 The new legislation also federalized the islands' immigration and labor controls and policies.The new provisions for United States government control over CNMI immigration policy were opposed by Governor Benigno Fitial, who filed a lawsuit in September 2008 in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia to halt the takeover.Fitial's suit contended that the immigration takeover by U.S. federal authorities, scheduled for mid-2009, would harm the economy of the Northern Mariana Islands by limiting the number of foreign aliens allowed to work in the territory.