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17 seek asylum
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Posted on Feb 10 2000
Seventeen foreigners residing in the CNMI formally sought asylum yesterday through papers submitted to four offices of U.S. Immigration and Naturalization Service in the Asia-Pacific region.
Their lawyer Bruce L. Jorgensen filed the application forms with the INS office on Saipan, Honolulu, Manila and Bangkok via certified mail.
He also delivered by hand original copies of the forms to Oscar Martinez, INS representative on the island, in his office at Horiguchi Building.
Those seeking asylum included five Sri Lankan nationals and 12 from the People’s Republic of China, according to a letter Mr. Jorgensen wrote to the four INS offices.
At the same time, he disclosed that he would be filing a lawsuit with the federal court on Saipan naming the CNMI and the U.S. governments as defendants in connection with the asylum application.
This will seek court injunction to compel INS officials to accept and process the forms as well as to restrain local and federal authorities from arresting, imprisoning and/or deporting the asylum seekers, according to Mr. Jorgensen.
The suit will also demand monetary damages, attorney’s fees and costs.
Mr. Jorgensen’s move followed the release from a CNMI detention of his clients who are two Chinese nationals seeking asylum. Their applications are still pending as the federal court has yet to rule on their case.
Both federal and local officials have said the CNMI can not grant asylum to foreign nationals as its immigration laws do not allow such a program.
