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Kilili pushes for separate CNMI, Guam US Attorney’s Office and US Marshals
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Posted on Aug 21 2011
Delegate Gregorio Kilili Sablan has introduced a bill that would establish separate U.S. Attorney’s Offices in the CNMI and Guam, as well as separate U.S. Marshals Offices for the two territories.
H.R. 2822, introduced on Aug. 16, requires that the U.S. Attorney and the U.S. Marshal appointed for the CNMI reside in the CNMI.
“With a few exceptions in and around urban areas of the country, U.S. Attorneys and U.S. Marshals are required to live in the jurisdictions they are appointed to. The only non-urban exception is that the U.S. Attorney and Marshal for the Northern Marianas do not have to reside here,” Sablan said.
The delegate said this effectively allows for the attorney general to appoint a single U.S. Attorney and U.S. Marshal to be assigned to Guam and the CNMI.
“And this is the situation we have now, in which the U.S. Attorney resides in Guam and there is a satellite U.S. Attorney’s office in the Northern Marianas. I think that as part of our continuing political maturity—exemplified by our new seat in Congress and the recent confirmation of one of our own to the federal court here—it is time that we had our own U.S. Attorney and U.S. Marshal,” he added.
H.R. 2822 will also help ensure that cases involving federal law are brought to trial and that no one need feel that the enforcement of federal law is something decided and done from afar.
Sablan’s bill currently has two co-sponsors—Rep. Maurice Hinchey (D-New York), and Rep. Eleanor H. Norton (D-Washington, D.C.).
At present, the U.S. Attorney for Guam and the CNMI is Alicia Limtiaco of Guam, while the U.S. Marshal for Guam and the CNMI is Frank Leon Guerrero, also from Guam.
