Federalization of immigration laws won’t deter influx of illegals

Noting the failure of the U.S. Immigration and Naturalization Service to protect the territorial integrity of Guam, Labor and Immigration Secretary Mark Zachares raised doubts on the capability of INS to shield the Northern Marianas from possible influx of illegal aliens if federal immigration laws were to apply here.

“If the INA were to apply to the CNMI, it is inconceivable that the U.S. INS and other responsible agencies could protect the territorial integrity of the Northern Mariana Islands, a vast 14 island archipelago with over 500 times the territorial waters of Guam, from becoming a magnet for illegal immigration into the United
States,” said Zachares in a letter to U.S. Senator Frank Murkowski.

Zachares wrote Murkoswki in response to allegations made by Bo Cooper, INS general counsel, who claimed that the sudden arrival of a large number of aliens into Guam was an unforseen circumstance that required emergency deployment of INS resources.

Cooper stated that the Tinian Diversion Operation was a “short-term, emergency response to an emergency situation.”

Zachares said Cooper was apparently not privy to the discussions he had with officials from INS before the operation.

On Dec. 1, 1998, he met with the INS Associate Commissioner for Policy and discussed the future diversion of undocumented aliens to the CNMI.

The Tinian Diversion Operation was designed for interdiction at sea, CNMI immigration and U.S. processing, prosecution of smugglers, and expedited repatriation.

Four months after the meeting, U.S. Deputy Attorney General Eric Holder called Gov. Pedro P. Tenorio requesting permission to divert the first of six boatloads of undocumented aliens seeking entry into the United States.

“Clearly, this was not unforseen nor an emergency situation that required an emergency response,” said Zachares.

In reality, Zachares added, the use of CNMI by the US expedited exclusion procedures in diverting the Chinese illegals from Guam to Tinian to make sure they couldn’t seek political asylum, while the U.S. INS met their treaty obligations under the U.N. Torture Convention.

“This was a well thought out and planned diversion that was under-financed by U.S. INS from the very beginning. In contrast, the CNMI expended extensive resources throughout this operation and contributed greatly to its success,” said Zachares.

He added that it was unclear how Cooper could refer to this as an “unforseen circumstance” when INS, which is the proponent of the plan, presented it to the CNMI in December 1998.

President Clinton had assured the CNMI that it would get 100 percent reimbursement of all the expenses incurred by the siland government amounting to $750,000.

But the Department of the Interior attempted to satisfy the federal government’s obligations through a federal grant with terms and conditions which the local government finds unacceptable.

Zachares said this shows that the federal government is not acting in good faith on its commitment for 100 percent reimbursement by placing terms and conditions on how the CNMI can utilize the repayment of the funds expended on the Tinian Diversion Operation.

Almost 700 undocumented Chinese have been prosecuted or repatriated. Only a small group were granted further interviews in the US.