More than 100 sign petition to stop regs’ adoption

Over 100 individuals have signed a petition to stop the adoption of regulations that would allow the CNMI to host Vietnamese victims of human trafficking.

Sen. Pete Reyes, the proponent of the campaign against the regulations, has submitted the signatures along with his comments on the proposed regulations to the Attorney General’s Office Friday afternoon.

Reyes said in an earlier interview that the signatures would illustrate the community’s opposition to the regulations, as they have been proposed.

Reyes, who has the support of Sen. Joseph Mendiola and Rep.-elect Cinta Kaipat among others, continues to gather signatures in support of his campaign.

The senator brought the proposed creation of a Safe Haven Entry Permit for Vietnamese human trafficking victims to the public’s attention on Thursday.

He questioned the “sneaky” way that the AGO had allegedly tried to promulgate and adopt the regulations. He also pointed out gray areas in the draft regulations.

According to him, the loose entry requirements for the victims and the “poor planning” involved in the AGO’s move would cause CNMI taxpayers additional financial burden, once the human trafficking victims were brought into the islands.

The regulations, as drafted by the AGO, would allow an indefinite number of victims to stay in the Commonwealth for an indeterminate period of time. The regulations also lack specific provisions to ensure that the CNMI can send the victims back home or anywhere else, if the Commonwealth ever needs to, Reyes said.

Attorney General Pamela S. Brown called for a press conference on Friday afternoon to answer Reyes’ allegations and to clarify issues concerning the regulations.

She said there was no attempt to be sneaky about the promulgation of the safe haven regulations. She added that the regulations had been thought out and were not something that the administration was rushing into.

Brown noted that human trafficking was one of the issues covered by a memorandum of agreement that Gov. Juan N. Babauta signed with the U.S. Department of the Interior as early as September 2003.

The MOA provides for cooperation between the federal government and the CNMI on matters relating to immigration and the prevention of human trafficking.

She added, “On the allegation that we’re rushing into this, if this was something that I wanted to rush into, I would have used my full authority to adopt this as emergency regulations, and [the victims] would be coming in now. There would be a 120-day period when nobody could do anything about it.”

Brown admitted, however, that Reyes’ move to bring the proposal out in the public did benefit the project. Individuals interested in helping human trafficking victims have called her office to express their support or offer assistance, she said.

“I don’t like the allegations he has made against me personally. Quite frankly I find them tiresome. But [Reyes’ action] got the community discussing the project. The community support that has been generated by Sen. Reyes’ raising this discussion and getting it out in the community has been gratifying. I’ve been just amazed,” Brown said.

The proposed safe haven regulations appeared in the Nov. 25, 2005 edition of the Commonwealth Register. The public may submit comments on the regulations until Christmas Day.