U.S. Attorney for the Districts of Guam and the NMI Leonardo M. Rapadas, in a press conference yesterday, said this will be the first time that U.S. Attorney’s Office will have four assistant U.S. attorneys on Saipan dedicated solely to prosecuting violations of federal laws in the CNMI.
Rapadas said former Federal Labor Ombudsman James Benedetto and Kirk Schuler, a lawyer from Iowa, will bolster the U.S. Department of Justice’s ability to confront the CNMI’s most pressing issues, like public corruption, human trafficking and smuggling, drug interdiction, and the transition to a federally controlled immigration system.
“This expansion is in anticipation for the expected growth in the next years and all of this is part of our ongoing mission to prosecute the federal laws to the fullest extent,” Rapadas said.
For the longest time, only three U.S. attorneys were assigned to the CNMI.
Rapadas said this expansion, which coincides with the recently announced addition of several federal investigators, is part of the ongoing mission to improve law enforcement in the CNMI and in preparation for the military expansion on Guam.
For Benedetto, joining the U.S. Attorney’s Office has been a long time dream.
“I’m very happy to have the opportunity to serve the United States and the CNMI, and I’ve wanted to be here for a long time,” Benedetto said.
He worked as a CNMI assistant attorney general for three years and was prosecutor in Alaska for five.
The vacancy at the Federal Ombudsman Office will be advertised in the next couple of weeks, Rapadas said.
Schuler arrived on Saipan a few days ago and will be handling some of the immigration cases.
Rapadas said Schuler’s presence here is due to a generous funding from the U.S. Department of Interior.
“I’m excited to start on this new legal venture,” Schuler said.
