Illegal aliens told to submit rather than be arrested

Illegal aliens in the CNMI should surrender to the Division of Immigration because its agents are very active now, said new Immigration director Melvin Grey.

Grey, in an interview with the Saipan Tribune, pointed out that there is no waiver in the CNMI with respect to deportation.

“Once you are deported you cannot come back. So I recommend to the folks that they should not get themselves into that situation,” he said.

The director said their investigators are very active now, picking up more people than they had in the past.

“They [investigators] are running into more of these people and picking them up and we’re setting up for a hearing. Everybody has the right to hearings, their time [and] day in court,” he said.

“So the first step is, don’t mess up your opportunity. Keep up your legal status. If you do not transfer, take care of it. If you are overstaying on a tourist visa and you do want to work, it is easy to set it up. Get employment, make the exit, and come back,” Grey said.

It is easy to follow the legal way, said the director, adding that his advice to everybody is to “go by the law.”

Grey said overstaying aliens are welcome to show up and surrender to his office so the hearing process would take place or they could depart voluntarily.

These illegal aliens are only making their lives miserable when they get arrested and are brought to court for deportation proceedings.

“If the judge orders deportation, that’s for life. In the CNMI there is no waiver to come back,” Grey stressed.

The director earlier stated that people can expect an improved, friendlier, and more efficient services at the Division of Immigration. He vowed that people can see professional Immigration agents and personnel in all regards under his leadership.

A few days after he assumed office, Grey implemented a system that makes it easier for tourists to process their papers for an extension of their stay in the Commonwealth.

Under the new system that he recently implemented, the processing of tourists’ extension of their stay would only take five to 10 minutes.

Starting last Wednesday, Grey also implemented a one-stop shopping system for government services within the Immigration Office in San Antonio.

Nonresident workers and others are now allowed to pay the $25 alien registration fee together with other fees associated with applications being submitted by companies or individuals.

Those who seek permits that authorize a stay of 90 days or longer can now pay the $25 alien registration fee and the associated extension filing fee, the director said.