Official wants access to federal files on refugees

Federal ombudsman Jim Benedetto said his office could act as an advocacy agency for prospective refugees, but it will need access to U.S. Department of State information, among other things, to do the job effectively.

Benedetto noted that, with the nearing implementation of the CNMI rules on refugee protection, there is a need for an advocacy group that would take up the needs of prospective refugees.

A revised version of the regulations was published in the June issue of the Commonwealth Register and will become effective if the Attorney General’s Office receives no major public comments by the end of this month.

According to Benedetto, the caseworkers at the Federal Ombudsman’s Office could provide support for protection seekers by translating for them and making sure that they understand their rights.

“Our office will probably be the frontline office involved in interpreting for people so they can communicate with the court and trying to give them some idea of what they’re going to need to prove to the protection officers that are being trained now by the CNMI to adjudicate the proceedings,” Benedetto said.

But the caseworkers, he added, will need training on matters such as how similar deportation proceedings occur in the U.S. mainland, what the standard of proof is, and how to access relevant information available at the State Department, the U.N. Commission for Refugees, and other groups.

“I have written to my office in Washington, D.C. [indicating that] since there is no advocacy agency here specifically addressing the needs of prospective refugees, my caseworkers in the ombudsman’s office will really need some training,” he told reporters on Tuesday.

Benedetto noted that, for instance, if a person says that they had been held or tortured in a particular prison in a country to which he is being deported, the State Department’s databases could confirm if there is such a prison with that name within that country.

The State Department should also have information about people who have claimed in the past that they were confined to or tortured in that prison.

“Unless we have access to that information, these folks that are applying for refugee protection may not have a very good chance of having a hearing,” Benedetto said.

He, however, qualified that the AGO personnel being trained on refugee protection procedures will themselves have access to such State Department files.

“But as the people that will be handling the primary advocacy role, I would like our people to be able to access that information directly as there’s always the possibility that the protection officer will not have accessed the information in the same fashion that we do, or that we’ll come up with something that they don’t have,” Benedetto said.

The Federal Labor Ombudsman’s Office was primarily established to assist foreign workers gain a better understanding of the laws and policies affecting them. The Ombudsman office works hand-in-hand with the CNMI’s Department of Labor and Immigration, the U.S. Attorneys’ Office and the Department of the Interior to ensure activities are properly coordinated and developed.

The regulations on asylum seekers aim to implement Public Law 13-61, which requires the Office of the Attorney General to promulgate rules and regulations enforcing the U.N. Convention Relating to the Status of Refugees and the U.N. Convention Against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment.

The United States is a signatory to both international conventions and treaties. Pursuant to Section 102 of the Covenant, the CNMI is required to conform to such forms of treaties.