{"database": "press", "table": "releases", "rows": [["http://sablan.house.gov/press-release/cw-cap-call-more-us-workers", "CW cap is a call for more U.S. workers", "2015-10-22", "2015", "2015-10", "Independent", "Senate", "MP", "Gregorio Sablan", "S001177", "sablan.house.gov", null, null, "legacy", "Northern Mariana Islands  Congressman Gregorio Kilili Camacho Sablan says that todays announced cap of 12,999 on the number of foreign, CW workers who can be permitted in the Northern Mariana Islands this fiscal year means that employers must continue to find more ways to hire U.S. workers, if growth is to continue. The U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services lowered the cap for fiscal year 2016 by 1,000 from the 2015 limit of 13,999 in a pre-publication notice today.\n\tTodays moderate reduction by USCIS reflects the agencys understanding that the need for labor to develop the Northern Marianas economy may grow and that there continues to be a need for access to foreign workers to accommodate that growth and current economic activity, Congressman Sablan said.\n\tUSCIS has taken a reasonable approach consistent with the requirement set out in the ConsolidatedNatural Resources Act that federal immigration be implemented in a way that minimizes adverse effects and maximizes the potential for future growth.\n\tTodays action, however, also reminds us that the number of CW workers will continue to decrease over the next four years and that everyone in the Marianas  business, government, and the educational system  will have to work overtime to replace this foreign labor with U.S. workers or with foreign workers who have some status other than CW. That means workers with H or other employment-based visas. That means workers from the Freely Associated States, who have the ability to immigrate to and live in the Northern Marianas.\n\tThe Consolidated Natural Resources Act of 2008 extended U.S. immigration law to the Northern Marianas and provided the special CW category of foreign workers for the islands during an initial transition period of five years. That initial period ended last December, but was extended through 2019 by enactment of Public Law 113-235 to allow more time for the program to be phased out.\n\t\n\tThe CW program began with a cap of 22,417in 2009, based on the number of workers that had been permitted by the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands prior to the extension of U.S. immigration law.\n\tBy 2013, USCIS officials have testified to Congress, the number of CW workers was down to 10,071.\n\tEarlier this year, the Commonwealth government reported to U.S. Secretary of Labor Tom Perez an unemployment rate of 16.8 percent in 2014, with 4,674 persons out of work.\n\t###", 1, "2026-03-30T12:14:52Z", "2026-03-30T12:14:52Z"]], "columns": ["url", "title", "date", "year", "month", "party", "chamber", "state", "member_name", "bioguide_id", "domain", "scraper", "source", "date_source", "text", "has_text", "collected_at", "updated_at"], "primary_keys": ["url"], "primary_key_values": ["http://sablan.house.gov/press-release/cw-cap-call-more-us-workers"], "units": {}, "query_ms": 0.941484933719039, "source": "dwillis/congress-press", "source_url": "https://github.com/dwillis/congress-press", "license": "MIT", "license_url": "https://github.com/dwillis/congress-press/blob/main/LICENSE"}