Federal agents arrested last Friday an alleged overstaying Chinese tourist who was found working as an illegal taxi driver on Saipan. <\/p>\n
Xiaomei Wu was brought before U.S. District Court for the NMI Magistrate Judge Heather L. Kennedy Monday afternoon for his initial appearance hearing.<\/p>\n
Robert T. Torres appeared as court-appointed counsel for Wu. Assistant U.S. attorney Eric O\u2019Malley, counsel for the U.S. government, filed a motion to detain Wu pending trial.<\/p>\n
The detention hearing was held yesterday.<\/p>\n
According to Nicole Sively, special agent with Homeland Security Investigations, Federal Protective Services officer Sean White encountered Wu for an alleged traffic violation last Thursday.<\/p>\n
Wu was allegedly in the driver\u2019s seat of a Toyota sedan at the Marina Heights Business Plaza.<\/p>\n
In her affidavit in support of a complaint, Sively said that Wu presented his CNMI driver\u2019s license to White and stated he was an illegal taxi driver.<\/p>\n
White then contacted HSI for assistance and requested that a check be conducted on Wu for possible outstanding warrants.<\/p>\n
During the records checks, HSI discovered that Wu is a citizen of the People\u2019s Republic of China who had overstayed his CNMI-only conditional parole, Sively said.<\/p>\n
Records showed that Wu entered the CNMI on March 3, 2017, and was granted a CNMI-only conditional parole by U.S. Customs and Border Protection that was to last until March 11, 2017.<\/p>\n
Sively said that Wu overstayed his authorized parole date and is therefore subject to being deported.<\/p>\n
Since Wu had no legal immigration status, HSI personnel contacted the CNMI Bureau of Motor Vehicles personnel about the driver\u2019s license that Wu had, Sively said.<\/p>\n
HSI personnel reviewed the records that Wu presented at BMV and found that a U.S. immigration form I-797A indicating he is a CW1 worker is fraudulent. The alien number listed on the I-797A form was a valid alien number but was not assigned to Wu. Records also showed that Wu\u2019s name and date of birth revealed no immigration petitions for him, including CW-1.<\/p>\n
During her questioning, Sively said, Wu stated he was working in Garapan and that one of the workers introduced him to someone who could assist him in obtaining a driver\u2019s license.<\/p>\n
Wu claimed that the person he later identified as \u201cUncle Zhang\u201d took him to BMV and assisted him as an English translator.<\/p>\n
Wu claimed he took written test in English and took the driving test a few times before passing.<\/p>\n
The defendant said it was Uncle Zhang who filled out his driver\u2019s license application.<\/p>\n
Wu said he only provided Uncle Zhang with his passport and Chinese driver\u2019s license.<\/p>\n
Wu said he did not give Uncle Zhang cash for his help, but instead bought him dinner and about $400-$500 worth of groceries.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
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