Li Hua, also known as Lily, was brought before visiting federal Judge John C. Coughenour for her initial appearance on Monday afternoon.
Li Hua is being held on charges of eight counts of violation of Title 8 of the United States Code, or making employment of unauthorized aliens unlawful.
Coughenour ordered the appointment of a defense attorney for Li Hua who was found to be indigent.
Li Hua was assisted by a Mandarin language translator.
She was remanded to the custody of the U.S. Marshal Service after the hearing. A detention hearing was scheduled for yesterday and a preliminary hearing will be held on June 16, 2011.
On May 30, 2011, Li Hua recruited six Chinese nationals: Cullan Ma, Chunping Li, Lifei Bian, Shoujun Yin, Zhongjun Yu, and Zhipeng Ren, to work in the CNMI while paroled as tourists under the Guam-CNMI Visa Waiver program, according to the complaint filed by U.S. Homeland Security Investigations special agent Isra Harahap.
Harahap joined Assistant U.S. Attorney Kirk Schuler, who represented the U.S. government, during Li Hua’s initial court appearance.
Harahap said on May 27, 2011, the U.S. Homeland Security Investigations office on Saipan was told that a cooperating source was communicating with Honglian Cheng, at that time in China, in order to bring in several Chinese nationals to work here.
Honglian Cheng was arrested by U.S. Homeland Security Investigations after she arrived on Saipan on May 30, 2011.
Honglian Cheng identified herself as the tour group leader during questioning by U.S. Customs and Border Protection officers and Harahap at the Saipan airport.
The Chinese nationals were paroled as tourists to the CNMI until June 15, 2011.
The cooperating source was paid $1,000 by Honglian Cheng for picking them up at the airport and bringing them to a hotel.
From then on, Harahap said he conducted surveillance on the group.
Li Hua was working for Honglian Cheng, Harahap said.
A total of 30,000 Chinese yuan, or about $4,600, were brought by the group so they could work in the CNMI, Harahap said.
Harahap said he provided the group with “job application” forms created by USHSI to confirm that the individuals were seeking employment in the CNMI.
Honglian Cheng was arrested while she was about to depart Saipan on June 3, 2011 for China.
