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AGO: Safe haven regs didn’t violate Covenant
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Posted on Jan 01 2006
The proposed safe haven regulations which the Attorney General’s Office withdrew Friday would not have violated the foreign relations provisions of the Covenant, according to an AGO legal opinion.
A claim has been that the Covenant prohibits the CNMI from adopting immigration procedures to establish a safe house for Vietnamese children rescued from human trafficking and forced prostitution in Cambodia.
But assistant attorney general Alan J. Barak, in a legal opinion issued Dec. 28, 2005, said this claim was incorrect.
“No. There is no prohibition against the CNMI’s immigration regulations for this matter in the Covenant, or therefore, in the CNMI’s relationship with the United States,” Barak said.
“To the contrary, the Commonwealth controls its own immigration; the [United States] cannot interfere with the CNMI’s giving these refugees a safe haven. The inquiry is, thus, about the immigration power given by the Covenant, and not about the relations between sovereign nations, which we call ‘foreign relations’,Åh he added.
The legal opinion was addressed to Gov. Juan N. Babauta, who had asked the AGO to address the meaning of the term “foreign relations” in Section 104 of the Covenant within the context of the proposed safe haven regulations.
Due to overwhelming community opposition, deputy attorney general Clyde Lemons withdrew the proposed regulations on Friday, Dec. 30, 2005.
Hundreds of community members showed up at the Multi Purpose Center for the public hearing on the safe haven project on Thursday evening, most of them to register their objection to the proposal.
Sen. Pete Reyes, the most outspoken critic of the proposed regulations, has gathered over 1,000 signatures against the project.
In a public notice, Lemons said that the proposed regulations had been withdrawn until further notice. He added, though, that the AGO, as provided by law, would fully consider all written and oral submissions regarding the proposed Safe Haven Entry Permit regulation.
“Given the volume of the written submissions and the length of the public hearing held on Dec. 29, 2005 (said hearing being recorded), the Attorney General’s Office needs time to comply with said provisions of the law,” said Lemons.
