Sagana

Bonifacio Vitug Sagana appeals the district court’s denial of his motion for summary judgment challenging the Nonresident Workers Act (“NWA”), 3 N. Mar. I.Code § 4411 et seq. (1999), of the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands (“CNMI”). He argues that the NWA restricts his right to freely market his labor in violation of 42 U.S.C. § 1981 and the Fourteenth Amendment’s equal protection .and due process clauses. The defendant, Joaquin Tenorio, was sued in his official capacity as the Secretary of the Department of Labor of the CNMI.

The district court dismissed all of Saga-na’s claims with prejudice. We affirm.

BACKGROUND

I. The C.NMI

After the end of World War II, the United Nations designated most of the Micronesian Islands, including the Northern Mariana Islands, as the Trust Territory of the Pacific Islands. The United States became the Trust Territory’s administrator, with the responsibility of “promoting] the development of the inhabitants of the trust territory toward self-government or independence.” United States ex rel. De Leon v. Guerrero, 4 F.3d 749 , 751 (9th Cir.1993) (internal quotation marks omitted) (quoting Trusteeship Agreement for the Former Japanese…