Senate to address alien deportation, illegal entry

Citing that the current law does not adequately deter the entry into the CNMI of unwanted aliens—including suspected terrorists and members of organized criminal syndicates—the Senate is mulling amendments to the law to expressly define “excludable aliens” and “illegal aliens.”

In Senate Bill 14-88, Sen. Paterno S. Hocog said that the Commonwealth Entry and Deportation Act does not provide authority for the exclusion of foreign nationals that the CNMI government has reason to believe will threaten the safety or security of the public.

“The absence of such provision makes it more likely that suspected terrorists or members of organized criminal syndicates are able to enter the Commonwealth. Nor does the current law adequately address foreign nationals who refuse to cooperate with officials pursuing criminal prosecutions,” said Hocog.

He said that persons often flee the Commonwealth in order to avoid criminal prosecution or to avoid an appearance as a material witness in a criminal case.

Yet such individuals “routinely return to the CNMI and enjoy the benefits afforded by life on the islands, though they have demonstrated willingness to impair essential government functions, thwart the interests of justice, and thus threaten the safety and security of all Commonwealth residents.”

In addition to existing grounds for “exclusion” provision, the bill wants to ban aliens who are not in possession of a lawfully issued passport valid for at least 90 days.

Other prohibitions include: aliens whom the Attorney General or her designee has determined as posing a threat to public health, safety or security; aliens who have departed the CNMI to evade criminal prosecution; and aliens who have departed the CNMI to avoid serving as a witness in a criminal case.

The bill also amends the law’s “voluntary departure” provision to ensure that, at the discretion of the AGO, a person departing shall not be considered deported “but be denied re-entry to the CNMI for 10 years and subjected to a fine of up to $5,000.”

Except allowed by the AG in writing, a voluntary departure shall not be provided if the alien has been convicted of any crime involving violence and has two or more convictions of driving under the influence of drugs or alcohol.

In another bill, Senate Bill 14-89, Hocog wants to amend sections 4381 and 4442 of Title 3 of the Commonwealth Code, which had been declared “unconstitutional” by the U.S. District Court in 2000.

These provisions, enacted for the purposes of identifying and detecting illegal alien employment activity, “are in part presently irreconcilable with the CNMI Constitution and the U.S.”

Pursuant to the court ruling, Hocog said that the presence of a neutral magistrate “is desirable” and in fact, “proper,” when the government’s powers of search and arrest are exercised, except in cases when obtaining such warrant is difficult or impossible.

Under the bill, an immigration officer may interrogate a “suspicious” alien but briefly and it shall not constitute an arrest. The person interrogated may refuse to answer.

The officer shall have authority to conduct a warrantless search at the immigration inspection counter or port of entry, provided such officer has a probable cause to suspect that the search would lead to the exclusion of that person.

Further, an immigration officer may arrest without warrant any alien, who, in the officer’s view, is entering or attempting to enter the CNMI in violation of any law or regulation.