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Most criminal cases in federal court in ’17 involved illegal employment
The nature of most of the criminal cases filed in federal court in 2017 involved the unlawful employment of aliens and harboring illegal aliens.
According to the U.S. District Court for the NMI’s 2017 Annual Report statistics, there were 19 criminal cases filed and that 37 percent of those involved the alleged unlawful employment of aliens.
Another 26 percent were for harboring illegal aliens. The rest involved mail fraud, lying in passport applications, methamphetamine, and mail theft.
It was in 2017 when federal agents arrested four persons on charges of harboring illegal aliens in connection with the construction of Imperial Pacific International (CNMI) LLC’s casino and resort in Garapan, the Imperial Pacific Resort.
The court report, however, showed that the number of criminal cases decreased slightly in 2017, compared to 2016. From 22 criminal cases in 2016, there were 19 in 2017.
With respect to civil cases, from 34 cases in 2016, the number went down to 23, a 32.35-percent decrease.
The nature of most civil cases filed last year involved contract (22.73 percent) and civil rights acts (18.18 percent).
