2 want deportation of aliens with drug charges

If two lawmakers have their way, alien workers who are merely charged with unlawful trafficking or possession of illegal drugs but have yet to be convicted would already be deported from the Commonwealth.

Representatives Joseph P. Deleon Guerrero and Stanley T. Torres have introduced House Bill 16-207 to add two subsections in the Commonwealth Code allowing the deportation of aliens charged with unlawful trafficking or possession of controlled substance.

Under the proposed measure, aliens can be deported if formal charges are filed against them with the Superior Court and that probable cause has been established as to the violations.

At present, nonresident aliens can be deported upon being convicted of a felony, two or more misdemeanors, any crime of moral turpitude, or any firearms control offense.

Deleon Guerrero and Torres stated in the bill that the drug trafficking has resulted in irrevocable harm to families and has added to the financial burden borne by CNMI citizens associated with investigating, prosecuting, defending, incarcerating and, in a rapidly increasing number of cases, deporting, drug offenders.

“This legislation aims to minimize the harm visited upon the Commonwealth by the illegal drug trade and deter future drug offenses by allowing the deportation of nonresident aliens who have been formally charged with the possession or trafficking of illicit drugs,” the lawmakers said.

Deleon Guerrero and Torres said that, by adding two additional grounds for deportation, the legislation also serves to decrease the abuse and manipulation of the criminal justice system by providing due process in the form of civil remedy.

The lawmakers said the prosecution of drug offenders is quite costly, regardless of the nationality or status of the offender.

“Significantly, however, the costs associated with the prosecution of a nonresident alien offender relative to a resident offender are nearly always higher,” they said.

Alien who are arrested, they said, typically have no ties to the community, no means to secure bail, and no means to support themselves while awaiting trial.

“Thus, scare resources are used to feed, house, and eventually deport alien offenders whose ability to enter and remain within the Commonwealth, is strictly limited to begin with,” the congressmen said.