I often wonder if some in the U. S. Congress think that if U. S.
Immigration Laws had been applied in the Commonwealth in 1981 it is very
possible that there would be no need for nonresident workers in the
Northern Marianas. Had they been applied it is also quite likely that by
1993 the indigenous population would comprise only nine percent of the
total population and would continue to decline as a percent of the total
in future years.
     One reason the Commonwealth was permitted control of its immigration
was to avoid the possibility of being overwhelmed as a result of United
States immigration quotas as applied to Asian countries. It was feared that
immigrants entering the United States would select the new Commonwealth as
a port of entry to the United States and very possibly a place of residence
because of the island’s proximity to their home country.
     Since 1981, three and one half million  people from Asia alone have
immigrated to the United States according to the Visa Section of the U. S.
Department of State.
If only  5 percent, or 175,000 people, settled in the Commonwealth - THERE
WOULD BE STANDING ROOM ONLY.  The total population, including the
indigenous  would be 193,300.
     Such growth would have resulted in a 1993 increase in population
density from 468 people per square mile on the islands of Saipan, Tinian
and Rota to 1,635 persons per square mile. An increase equal to about nine
and one half times the CNMI’s 1993 estimated  indigenous population,
(18,300).
     Considering only immigration to the United States from Asia for the
period 1981 thru ‘93, the ethnic composition of the Commonwealth would have
changed radically if you except the premise that five percent of the total
would stop off and remain in the islands. Using State Department ratios to
estimate the ethnic mix, there could have been about: 37,200 Filipinos;
22,900 Chinese; 18,200 Koreans; 18,300 from India; 17,900 Vietnamese; 7,200
from Hong Kong; 3,600 Japanese and 49,700 from other Asian countries or a
total of 175,000 people as opposed to only 18,300 indigenous people.
      It doesn’t take a political genius to figure out that once American
citizenship was obtained by this group the indigenous people would lose
control of the local government and the society would be far from being
homogeneous. You would have in effect, a miniature continent of Asia
squeezed on to three small islands with a combined total land area of 118.2
square miles.
      At one time United States immigration laws permitted the entry of up
to 20,000 aliens each year from every country in the world maintaining a
diplomatic relationship with the U. S. when other established criteria was
met. A continental land mass as large as the United States is capable of
absorbing such large numbers of immigrant aliens. This is certainly not the
case of a small island area such as the Northern Marianas   In terms of
square miles the combined dry land area of the 50 states is almost 30,000
times as large as that of Saipan, Tinian and Rota combined.

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