By Pacific Island Times News Staff
Illegal aliens caught entering Guam through the backdoor must stay in detention while awaiting trial, according to Attorney General Douglas Moylan.
“Illegal immigrants infiltrating our waters and surreptitiously entering into our villages, especially at night pose a clear, present and immediate threat to our people’s welfare,” Moylan wrote in a written testimony in support of Bill 340-37.
The bill, authored Sen. Dwayne T.D. San Nicolas, proposes harsher punishments— five years in prison plus a fine of $25,000— for aliens found guilty of breaching Guam’s borders.
Currently, those who illegally enter the island are only penalized with a
maximum fee of $2,000 or imprisonment for one year, or both.
“By enforcing harsher penalties, the proposed measure aims to safeguard the public and protect Guam’s border from the negative impacts of illegal immigration,” San Nicolas said Friday after a public hearing on the bill.
Bill 340-37 was prompted by a spate of Chinese nationals trying to sneak into Guam using inflatable boats from the Northern Marianas.
Moylan sought to draw the Guam legislature’s attention to Arizona and Texas laws that address illegal immigration, particularly individuals seeking asylum in the United States.
Both states, he said, “seek to address the reality" of the federal catch-and-release policy, which allows an illegal alien to stay in the U.S. pending result of an asylum application that usually takes months to complete.
Arizona and Texas laws set conditions that undocumented aliens awaiting court hearings or asylum proceedings may remain in the state provided they do not commit any local crimes.
“We believe these efforts by Arizona and Texas serve to magnify the obligation we impose on those freed into our local communities that they strictly comply with all of our local laws. Those who cannot comply do not deserve the opportunity to stay in the U.S. or any of its territories,” Moylan said.
Suggesting amendments to the bill, Moylan urged the legislature to include a provision that would preclude a release pending trial.
“At a minimum, they can only be placed on house arrest under the supervision of a qualified third-party custodian with a significant bail amount,” the attorney general said, warning that illegal aliens are considered a “flight risk.”
At Friday’s public hearing, Customs Director Ike Peredo endorsed the bill.
“Bill 340-37 addresses the illegal entry into Guam of passengers, merchandise,
baggage, vessels, aircraft or conveyances from any place outside of Guam without going through the proper process and provides Customs and Quarantine Agency the power to arrest as well as criminal penalties for persons
violating this act,” Peredo said.
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