“This means that the United States can still claim that inappropriate travel by an alien between the commonwealth and Guam and any other part of the United States may violate other federal criminal statutes,” G. Anthony Long said.
“It should also be noted that the 9th Circuit acknowledged that an alien in the commonwealth who engages in such inappropriate travel remains subject to the non criminal sanction of deportation or removal back to his or her home country,” he added.
The U.S. Probation Office has moved for the discharge of Qingmei Cheng who has complied with the conditions of her one-year supervised release imposed by the U.S. District Court for the NMI.
The probation office said Cheng’s supervised release expired on March 23, 2011. It moved that the proceedings in this case be terminated.
Cheng, one of the 24 individuals arrested by the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, pleaded guilty to one count of attempted improper entry by an alien.
Cheng was the masseuse of Gov. Benigno Fitial who received an early morning massage from her after she was taken out of the CNMI Department of Corrections facility while under the custody of the U.S. Marshals Service.
Bruce Berline, another court-appointed defense attorney, said: “We are very pleased that the 9th Circuit agreed with us and the theory of the federal immigration takeover has on the law.”
Long said the defendants were charged with violating 8 USC Section 1325. “This statute makes it a criminal offense for an alien to enter or attempt to enter the United States at a place other than designated by immigration officials. This means it is a crime for an alien to sneak into or attempt to sneak into any part of the United States from a place outside of the United States,” Long said.
Historically, Long said when the CNMI controlled its own immigration, “an alien in the commonwealth could violate Section 1325 by entering or trying to enter Guam or any other part the United States at a place other than designated by immigration officials as the commonwealth was deemed to be outside of the United States.”
But, he added, “the 9th Circuit ruled that after United States immigration laws were extended to the commonwealth on Nov. 28, 2009, the commonwealth became a part of the United States for immigration purposes.”
He said the 9th Circuit “then reasoned that an alien in the commonwealth cannot, under any circumstance, violate Section 1325 when he or she travels or attempts to travel directly from the commonwealth to Guam or any other part of the United States. The court reached this conclusion because after the commonwealth became a part of the United States for immigration purposes, an alien in the commonwealth was already in the United States and any direct travel from the commonwealth to Guam or any other part of the United States is not an entry or attempt to enter the United States.”
