King-Hinds calls for unified CNMI voice to save economy

THE CNMI needs to have a unified voice to save the struggling local economy, U.S. Congresswoman Kimberlyn King-Hinds said on Saturday.

In an interview after the organizational session of the 20th Youth Congress, which she attended, King-Hinds said she wants to remain hopeful and focused on working toward finding a favorable outcome for the CNMI, referring to her request to the U.S. Department of Homeland Security for assistance in addressing the delays in processing the electronic travel authorization of tourists under the Economic Vitality & Security Travel Authorization Program or EVS-TAP.

In her letter to DHS Secretary Kristi Noem last week, King-Hinds asked for an explanation of the delays, which, she added, are affecting the CNMI’s only industry — tourism.

A Republican member of the U.S. House, King-Hinds said there is reason to be hopeful. But “we have to have a unified voice. And we all have to be saying the same thing.”

She said the Commonwealth faces a lot of challenges given the political climate in Washington, D.C., especially as it relates to tariffs and the “ongoing conversations” regarding the competition between the U.S. and China.

Here in the CNMI, she said, “we all have to come out and say that saving this market is worth doing and it’s critical to the survival of the CNMI's economy.”

King-Hinds said she and her office know the DHS secretary has received her letter, as the federal agency has acknowledged its receipt.

“Right now,” she said, “we are waiting to set up a time to be able to discuss the ramifications of…the [delays in the] processing times and what it means to the CNMI’s tourism industry.”

At the end of the day, she said, she cannot be the only one asking the federal government. “This needs to be a whole of government approach that begins with the governor and all the leaders of the CNMI. We need to amplify our concerns of what this means to the CNMI economy, and if I’m the only one, then, we're sending the wrong message,” she added.

For her part, she said, “we are exhausting every effort to include working with the CNMI's business community to explore other avenues to be able to underscore how important opening up all markets is to the CNMI economy.”

“Businesses are closing down. We have one another major hotelier who is signaling they are about to shut down. We cannot afford the continued loss of revenue. But we are sending mixed messages when we are not clear about what's happening here on the ground and conveying that same message to Washington, D.C.,” King-Hinds said.

Variety was unable to get a comment from Gov. Arnold I. Palacios.

On Thursday, the CNMI House of Representatives “sound[ed] the alarm over ongoing silence from federal agencies regarding” EVS-TAP.

In a news release, the CNMI House noted that “EVS-TAP was developed through formal 902 consultations between the CNMI and the U.S. Department of the Interior during the first Trump administration as a security-conscious alternative to broader parole authority. Unlike standard U.S. visas, EVS-TAP is territorially restricted, applying only to the CNMI. Applications are vetted in advance — often over several days — and require pre-embarkation approval, offering federal agencies more control, not less.”

“This is not a backdoor or a loophole,” Vice Speaker Diego Vincent Fejeran Camacho was quoted as saying. “It’s a federally supervised, limited-entry system that was designed to meet national security standards. Right now, what’s missing is not law or oversight — it’s federal follow-through and basic transparency,” he added.