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Hosting illegal migrants costs CNMI $500,000
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Posted on Jun 15 1999
The CNMI government spent an estimated half-a-million dollars from April to May for providing security and temporary shelter to hundreds of undocumented Chinese nationals held on Tinian.
According to figures prepared by the Department of Finance, as of end-May government expenditures for this operation reached $501,000, bulk of which was spent for personnel costs.
Estimates indicate that salaries and overtime payment for employees of the Customs Division, Departments of Public Safety and Labor and Immigration, Commonwealth Health Center and the Emergency Management Office totaled $392,000. The number of government employees deployed to the island municipality varied, but at one time peaked at 70.
The rest of the balance was used to pay meals, accommodation of personnel, supplies and equipment rentals.
The expenses incurred by the Commonwealth will be submitted to the federal government for reimbursement especially now that the CNMI is in a tight financial condition.
Close to 300 illegal Chinese immigrants remain housed in a “tent city” in Northfield, a former US base on Tinian, and there is no word yet from the Immigration and Naturalization Service when the next repatriation will resume.
Recently two groups of undocumented Chinese have been flown out of the Northern Marianas on board chartered planes after more than a month since the fishing vessels that would have taken them to Guam illegally were intercepted by the US Coast Guard and diverted to Tinian.
The local government, which is battling with its own immigration problems, agreed to accommodate temporarily the illegal immigrants on condition that it would be reimbursed for the expenses it may incur for playing host.
The White House has requested the CNMI, which controls its own immigration, to accept the illegals since the Division of Corrections in Guam could no longer take in the streams of “boat people” from China who are believed to be victims of human smuggling.
