Tinian hires five new Immigration officers

Tinian has been beefing up its Immigration staff in anticipation of an economic boom that is expected to come soon due to U.S. military buildup and the opening of a new casino, among other projects.

Five new Immigration officers have been hired as part of Tinian Mayor Jose San Nicolas’ flagship program in training the island’s enforcement officers.

Immigration inspector trainees Alvin Lizama, Jeffrey Hofschneider Jr., Richard L. Morgan, and Lester SN. Macaranas were sworn in by Superior Court presiding judge Robert Naraja as new Immigration officers.

The fifth new Immigration officer, Heinz Hofschneider, failed to attend the swearing in ceremony held at the Saipan Superior Court.

Naraja also administered the oath to three new Saipan Immigration officers: Jadine S. Ada, Andrew M. Lizama, and Vincent Kaipat.

John E. Untalan, chief executive officer for the Office of the Mayor Municipality of Tinian and Aguiguan, told Saipan Tribune that the hiring of five new Immigration officers is part of San Nicolas’ program to train people before the opening of Tinian’s international airport.

“It’s actually a win-win situation. We stationed them [five] here on Saipan to have them get the training that they need. So when the airport does open, we will have fully trained Immigration officers,” Untalan said.

The official underscored the need to have sufficient Immigration personnel right now so the island is prepared when things are ready at the airport.

He said the addition of the five officers would double Tinian Immigration’s staff, which currently has about five officers.

“As soon as we can accept international flights, we are going to have more Immigration officers there,” he said.

The Mayor’s Office is expecting the airport to open by next year.

At present, Untalan said, the five officers are just enough because the island can’t accept international landing.

“We have the new runway. We’re working on parallel runway and we’re waiting for the new terminal to open up,” he said.

Untalan said Tinian is expecting more tourists, citing the upcoming military buildup plus the groundbreaking of the new casino next month.

“Tinian is very busy and Mayor San Nicolas is preparing for those things. This is one of his programs [getting five officers]. The five people over here are working with Immigration director Melvin Grey to provide them with the training that they need,” he said.

Vincent B. Lizama, Immigration officer in charge for ports of entry on Saipan, agreed with Untalan that the five new Tinian officers were sent to Saipan in anticipation of the opening of the Tinian international airport.

Right now, Lizama said, Saipan is short staffed at the ports of entry—airport and seaports.

Lizama said the hiring of the eight new officers are very important because they don’t want the passengers to be waiting in long lines.

“They are done with the training except for some at the main office because we will be doing cross trainings,” he said.