Overstaying tourist allegedly paid $1,500 to get sham driver’s license

Another alleged overstaying tourist who was reportedly able to obtain a CNMI driver’s license through fraud was arrested last Thursday.

Guangjian Deng, a Chinese national, was arrested on a charge of producing a fraudulently obtained identification document to law enforcement personnel.

Deng was taken before U.S. District Court for the NMI Magistrate Judge Heather L. Kennedy for his initial court appearance last Friday late afternoon. Deng appeared with court-appointed counsel Mark Hanson. Assistant U.S. attorney Garth Backe appeared for the U.S. government.

According to Homeland Security Investigations Task Force officer Cristin Duenas, Deng went to the HSI office at the Marina Heights Building II in Puerto Rico last Thursday and that Federal Protective Service inspector Sean White assisted Deng, who spoke little English.

Duenas said that Deng presented a document that authorized him to obtain properties held in HSI’s possession on behalf of his friend. When asked for identification, Deng presented a CNMI driver’s license. Duenas said his search within their systems revealed that Deng is illegally present here as he entered the CNMI on Nov. 19, 2016, and was granted CNMI-only conditional parole by U.S. Customs and Border Protection that was effective until Dec. 1, 2016. DHS records also showed that Deng was administratively arrested on Feb. 22, 2019, and is currently in removal proceedings.

Since Deng has no legal immigration status, Duenas said that HSI personnel contacted the CNMI Bureau of Motor Vehicles to check on Deng’s driver’s license.

Upon receiving copies of documents that Deng presented to BMV in the application for driver’s license, HSI then checked the DHS system and found out that the receipt number listed on the I-797 form was valid but registered to another individual and not assigned to Deng.

Duenas said a records check conducted on Deng’s name and date of birth revealed no immigration petitions to include the CW-1 visa.

Based on these results, it was determined that the I-797A submitted with the June 21, 2017 driver’s license and operator’s permit application form was fraudulent, he said.

Duenas said that Deng later confessed during an interview that he came to Saipan to work and was recruited in China. Deng recalled that he worked for two months at a construction site before being told that he did not have a job anymore.

Deng stated that he needed a driver’s license in order to find work in the CNMI. A Chinese recruiter reportedly offered to get him a driver’s license for $1,500. Deng allegedly agreed and paid the recruiter the money. With the help of another person, Deng allegedly managed to get a driver’s license.