By Bryan Manabat
[email protected]
Variety News Staff
THE Saipan Immigration Court on Wednesday ordered the removal of Lorna R. Maramba, who recently pleaded guilty in federal court to possessing a false identification document with intent to defraud the United States.
Honolulu Immigration Judge Clarence Wagner found that Maramba violated U.S. immigration law and ordered her removed to the Philippines.
Maramba, represented by attorney Richard Miller, did not contest the allegations and admitted the charges. When asked whether she had the means to purchase an airline ticket to the Philippines, Miller told the court she did not.
Wagner advised Maramba that she may not reenter the United States without authorization and could face prosecution if she attempts to do so.
Department of Homeland Security attorney Shannon Fruthranjit appeared for the U.S. government.
Maramba was previously accused of using two fraudulent U.S. permanent resident cards in an attempt to travel from Saipan to Hawaii. She was arrested after U.S. Customs and Border Protection officers reported that she presented the cards during an outbound inspection at the Francisco C. Ada/Saipan International Airport on Jan. 21, according to a federal complaint.
Homeland Security Investigations said Maramba initially claimed she was a lawful permanent resident and presented two laminated cards — one black-and-white and one in color — each bearing different biographical information, mismatched USCIS numbers, and distorted or blurred images. Record checks showed she had no lawful immigration status and had overstayed her last CNMI-Only Transitional Worker visa, which expired in 2020.
Maramba later admitted the cards were fake and told investigators she paid $2,000 to a man she met on Facebook who claimed to be a U.S. immigration officer. She said she hoped to reach Hawaii to find work and acknowledged she was unlawfully present in the CNMI.
She also told investigators she is an accountant and had previously prepared her own CW-1 applications. She said she sought employment in Hawaii because of difficulty finding work on Saipan.
On Feb. 13, she pleaded guilty to the charge. Chief Judge Ramona V. Manglona of the District Court for the NMI accepted the plea and scheduled sentencing for March 4. Maramba signed a plea agreement in which federal prosecutors recommended a sentence of time served.
Variety has learned that Maramba also has a pending labor complaint against a local company on Saipan.
Following an Open Government Act request, the CNMI Department of Labor on Wednesday provided Variety with a 10-page document regarding Maramba’s allegation of unlawful termination against Saipan Ice & Water Company, filed on Nov. 17, 2025.
In her complaint, Maramba said she was hired as an inventory accountant on Oct. 10, 2025, and was dismissed on Nov. 1, 2025.
“Management terminate[d] my 3 months probationary, no termination letter and no notice. The HR telling me it’s my last day which is Nov. 1, 2025,” she wrote.
Maramba asked the CNMI Department of Labor to order Saipan Ice & Water to pay the remaining two months of her probationary period, through Dec. 31, 2025.
In the complaint, she also stated that she is a U.S. permanent resident card holder.
Bryan Manabat was a liberal arts student of Northern Marianas College where he also studied criminal justice. He is the recipient of the NMI Humanities Award as an Outstanding Teacher (Non-Classroom) in 2013, and has worked for the CNMI Motheread/Fatheread Literacy Program as lead facilitator.
