Jones
Act
Guam claims that the Merchant Marine Act of 1920,
commonly
known as the Jones Act, inhibits its ability to establish a tuna
transshipment industry because foreign flag vessels may not be
used in the transportation of merchandise, in this case tuna,
between
two
points
in
the United States.
Some Guam officials
believe the Jones Act should not apply to Guam because of its
geographic distance from the U.S. mainland and because both
American Samoa and the neighboring NMI are exempt.
Puerto Rico officials said the Jones Act hurt tourism
because cruise ships, mostly foreign owned, were not allowed to
off-load passengers for more than 24 hours.
The officials said
this restriction drove away tourist dollars and gave an unfair
advantage to
locations.
neighboring
Virgin
Islands
and
other
Caribbean
We noted that this prohibition should now be eliminated
with the enactment on October 30, 1984, of Public Law 98-583,
which allows foreign passenger ships to travel one way between
Puerto Rico and U.S. ports.
Officials from American Samoa, the NMI,
and
Islands cite the exemption from the Jones Act as
benefit.
Immigration and
Nationality Act
the Virgin
a economic
(INA)
Control over immigration is another area where some territories believe federal law caused economic and social disloca-.
tion.
Virgin Island and Guam officials said the INA has hurt
development because the local governments could not control the
influx of alien workers who competed with local residents for
jobs.
other
Although this problem was eventually remedied,
aspects
example,
until
of
the
Guam
INA
was
continue
provided
to
an
hamper
they claim
development.
exemption
under
the
For
1984
Omnibus Territories Act, Public Law 98-454, October 1984, the
Guam Chamber of Commerce and other Guam officials said immigration laws hindered tourism because of temporary visa requirements placed on tourists and business visitors to Guam.
According to the Chamber, foreign visitors, mainly from Japan, had to
obtain visas from a U.S. consulate before they could enter Guam.
The visa requirement was a hindrance which hurt the territory's
largest private sector industry--tourism.
This put Guam at a
competitive disadvantage with its Pacific neighbors, including
the NMI, which controls its own immigration and therefore did
not face similar constraints.
The Chamber estimated that elimi-.
nating visa requirements for Japanese tourists would have gen-
erated
1981.
an
additional
$2.5
million
31
9000238
in
tourist
expenditures
in