Deportation proceedings begin vs 2 tourists

The Attorney General’s Office began deportation proceedings yesterday against the two Chinese men who were arrested for illegally staying in the CNMI.

The two, Yang Wei, 48, and Tang Wenliang, 43, were reported missing for failing to leave the island on their scheduled departure date as part of a travel package from Beijing. They were caught last Sunday night

Assistant attorney general Ian Catlett asked the Superior Court yesterday to issue an order directing Yang and Tang to show cause why they should not be deported from the CNMI.

Catlett said the two men violated the conditions of the visitor’s entry permits, which allowed them to stay in the CNMI until Jan. 29, 2005 only. The two men arrived on Saipan on Jan. 26 by joining a group tour.

Wang and Tang will remain in jail until Feb. 17, when Superior Court judge Kenneth Govendo holds separate hearings for their possible deportation.

The judge had wanted to schedule the hearings tomorrow as requested by CNMI chief prosecutor David Hutton, but one of the two refused to waive his right to a seven-day notice prior to a hearing. Unwittingly, the two would have to stay longer in jail before the deportation proceedings could be decided, after the court set the hearings on Thursday next week.

Govendo imposed a $25,000-bail on each. The judge also directed the two men to surrender their travel documents and to call in at the Immigration office every Monday, Wednesday and Friday should they manage to post bail.

Century Tours, the company providing the group tour, reported the two men as missing on Friday last week, after they failed to board their Jan. 29 flight back to China.

Law enforcers traced Yang and Tang to Koblerville last Sunday, after receiving a tip on their whereabouts from an informant. Immigration inspector Erwin T. Flores said the informant will receive the $500-reward put up by Century Tours.

Century Tours manager Henry Pun disclosed receiving the tip from a telephone caller Sunday. Pun said the company then relayed the information to immigration agents, who conducted surveillance on the men’s whereabouts. Agents swooped down on the two after several hours of staking out the Koblerville area.

Yang and Tang appeared to be working for a construction company, after law enforcers found safety gear at their safehouse, according to Pun.

“I saw the safety hat in the room, so that means they started working already. According to the person who provided us the information, somebody would pick [Yang and Tang] up for work every morning,” he said.

He said that Century Tours’ counterpart in Beijing would not return the nearly $4,000 paid by the two men as security deposit before leaving China.

“I don’t think they’ll get their money back,” he said. “They paid to guarantee their return,” Pun said. “It clearly shows they had the intention to stay.”