Editing Northern Mariana Islands (section)

===Political status and autonomy===
{{further|Law of the Northern Mariana Islands}}
In 1947, the Northern Mariana Islands became part of the post–World War II United Nations [[Trust Territory of the Pacific Islands]] (TTPI). The United States became the TTPI's administering authority under the terms of a trusteeship agreement. In 1976, Congress approved the mutually negotiated Covenant to establish a Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands in Political Union with the United States of America.<ref>{{cite web| url = http://cnmilaw.org/cov.php#gsc.tab=0| title = Covenant to establish a Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands in Political Union with the United States of America}}</ref> The Covenant was codified on March 24, 1976, as [[Public Law]] 94-241.<ref name=covenant>{{cite web|url=https://uscode.house.gov/statutes/pl/94/241.pdf|title=Public Law 94-241|date=March 24, 1976|publisher=uscode.house.gov}}</ref> The Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands (CNMI) government adopted its own constitution in 1977, and the new government took office in January 1978. Implementation of the Covenant, which took effect on January 1, 1978, was completed on November 3, 1986, pursuant to Presidential Proclamation no. 5564; which placed into effect the Covenant With the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands, and the Compacts of Free Association With the Federated States of Micronesia and the Republic of the Marshall Islands.<ref>See
*{{cite web|url=https://www.archives.gov/federal-register/codification/proclamations/05564.html|title=Proclamation 5564—Placing into full force and effect the Covenant With the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands, and the Compacts of Free Association With the Federated States of Micronesia and the Republic of the Marshall Islands|work=Codification of Presidential Proclamations and Executive Orders|publisher=[[Federal Register]]|date=November 3, 1986}}
*{{cite web|url=https://fam.state.gov/FAM/08FAM/08FAM030202.html|title=8 FAM 302.2: Acquisition by birth in the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands|date=May 15, 2020|work=Foreign Affairs Manual and Handbook|publisher=U.S. Department of State}}</ref> This allowed the CNMI to be represented to the United States Government in Washington, DC by a ''Resident Representative'', elected at-large by CNMI voters and whose office was paid for by the CNMI government. The [[Consolidated Natural Resources Act of 2008]] ("CNRA"), approved by the [[U.S. Congress]] on May 8, 2008, established a [[United States congressional delegations from the Northern Mariana Islands|CNMI delegate]]'s seat; Democrat [[Gregorio Sablan]] was elected in [[2008 United States House of Representatives elections|November 2008]] as the first CNMI delegate and took office in the [[111th Congress]]. Like the other five delegates in the House, the CNMI delegate participates in debates and committee votes but has no vote on the floor of the House of Representatives and has no role in the U.S. Senate, but is equal to a Senator when serving on a conference committee.

On December 22, 1990, the [[United Nations Trusteeship Council]] terminated the TTPI as it applied to the CNMI and five other of the TTPI's original seven districts (the [[Marshall Islands]] and the [[Federated States of Micronesia]] (Chuuk, Kosrae, Pohnpei and Yap)), this was acknowledged in [[United Nations Security Council Resolution 683]] passed on the same day.

[[File:TTPI High Court judges.jpg|thumb|TTPI High Court judges (some time between 1968 and 1978)]]
Under the Covenant, only certain provisions of the U.S. Constitution apply to the Commonwealth, and legislation passed by the U.S. Congress can only apply to the Commonwealth if it applies to all 50 states.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://cnmilaw.org/cov.php#gsc.tab=0|title=Covenant|website=Commonwealth Law Revision Commission}}</ref> The CNMI is outside the customs area of the United States and ''bona fide'' residents of the Commonwealth are exempt from U.S. federal income tax, as is the case in the four self-governing territories. According to the Covenant, the federal minimum wage and federal immigration laws "will not apply to the Northern Mariana Islands except in the manner and to the extent made applicable to them by the Congress by law after termination of the Trusteeship Agreement."<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.doi.gov/oia/Islandpages/cnmipage.htm|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20060614104551/http://www.doi.gov/oia/Islandpages/cnmipage.htm|title=Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands|website=US Department of the Interior|archive-date=June 14, 2006}}</ref> Local control of minimum wage was superseded by the United States Congress in 2007; it was slowly raised until in 2015 it reached parity with the 50 states.

Initially, under the Covenant, a separate immigration system existed in the CNMI, and U.S. immigration law did not apply. Still, the Covenant gave the United States power of reservation over immigration law in the Commonwealth. After reports surfaced of abusive practices for immigrant workers, on November 28, 2009, the United States exercised its power of reservation; specifically, CNRA § 702(a) amended the Covenant to state that "the provisions of the 'immigration laws' (as defined in section 101(a)(17) of the Immigration and Nationality Act (8 U.S.C. 1101(a)(17))) shall apply to the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands." Further, under CNRA § 702(a), the "immigration laws," as well as the amendments to the Covenant, "shall...supersede and replace all laws, provisions, or programs of the Commonwealth relating to the admission of aliens and the removal of aliens from the Commonwealth."<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.justice.gov/eoir/vll/benchbook/tools/CNMI/CNMI%20Memo%20(3-29-10).pdf|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110926172413/http://www.justice.gov/eoir/vll/benchbook/tools/CNMI/CNMI%20Memo%20(3-29-10).pdf|title=Memorandum|date=March 29, 2010|publisher=US Department of Justice: Executive Office for Immigration Review|archive-date=September 26, 2011}}</ref> Transition to U.S. immigration laws began November 28, 2009.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://digital.law.washington.edu/dspace-law/bitstream/handle/1773.1/488/20pacrimlpoly211.pdf |title=A Lesser-Known Immigration Crisis: Federal Immigration Law in the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands |author=Robert J. Misulich |publisher=Digital.law.washington.edu |access-date=August 29, 2015}}</ref><ref name=ST>{{Cite news|url=http://www.saipantribune.com/newsstory.aspx?newsID=96195&cat=1|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110926172413/http://www.saipantribune.com/newsstory.aspx?newsID=96195&cat=1|title=CNMI loses immigration control in 2009|date=January 1, 2010|author=Haidee V. Eugenio|newspaper=Saipan Tribune|archive-date=September 26, 2011}}</ref>