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Kilili says he does not condone noncitizens in NMI crossing to Guam
Delegate Gregorio Kilili C. Sablan (D-MP) said yesterday that he does not condone noncitizens in the Northern Marianas crossing the border into Guam.
In his response to Saipan Tribune’s request for comments about reports of an increasing number of Chinese nationals going to Guam by boat from Saipan, Sablan said doing this is a violation of the law and must stop.
Sablan said. This is regardless of the nationality of the noncitizens and regardless if one person, or a group of more than one person, makes the attempt, he added.
Sablan
As for Rep. Tom Tiffany’s and Glenn Grothman’s Nov. 30, 2020, letter to the U.S. Department of Homeland Security where they raised a concern about immigration matters in the CNMI, Sablan said he does not have any information or update to share.
In that letter addressed to DHS Secretary Chad Wolf, Tiffany and Grothman described the CNMI Chinese parole program as a “dangerous loophole” in America’s immigration system and has been allowed to remain wide open for far too long, and it should be closed.
“U.S. states and territories should not be operating parallel immigration systems through administrative fiat, and Chinese nationals should be required to meet the same standard to visit the CNMI that they must be to visit any other part of the United States,” the congressmen said.
They said the existing parole program for Chinese travelers to the CNMI not only violates the rules regarding the parole authority created by Congress, but it also undermines the national security.
Pacific Daily News reported Wednesday that Guam Gov. Lou Leon Guerrero recently discussed the problem of Chinese contact workers traveling to Guam from the CNMI with DHS officials in Washington, D.C.
Leon Guerrero reportedly stated that the Coast Guard is increasing patrols around Guam and that crews have turned back three boats carrying Chinese nationals in the last few weeks.
