KOROR (Island Times/Pacnews) — Former Assistant Attorney General Christa Boyd-Nafstad, declared in July 2022 as an undesirable alien and banned from entering Palau, said her treatment violates Palau’s Compact of Free Association with the U.S.
“The terms of the Compact…dictate that U.S citizens receive special treatment under Palauan immigration law, just as Palauan citizens receive reciprocal beneficial treatment under U.S law,” she said. “Both are considered ‘non-immigrant residents’ in the other’s respective country. The terms of the Compact…are codified into national law in both the U.S. federal law and Palau national code and take precedence over any conflicting laws.”
She added, “While it may technically be true that the President of Palau can deem a citizen of a country other than the United States to be an ‘undesirable alien’ inadmissible to Palau for no reason at all, the same can absolutely not be said of U.S citizens. Absent very specific criteria all U.S citizens have the right to live and work in Palau. A U.S citizen cannot be removed from Palau without reason, just as a Palauan living in the U.S could not be secretly put on a clandestine list and removed from their home in the U.S with no grounds and no hearing.”
Boyd-Nafstad said “just the thought of such a thing happening is so far-fetched that it sounds ridiculous. Yet that is the scenario happening under the Palau Attorney General’s Office.”
In July 2022, 230 foreign nationals, 200 of them from People’s Republic of China, were included on the list of undesirable aliens. Palau’s border officers were instructed to not let them in the country. One U.S citizen was among the 230 — Christa Boyd-Nafstad.
She said her designation is based on the personal feelings of her former boss, Attorney General Ernestine Rengiil.
“The thought that a resident can be banned by an angry old woman with the grounds being pure jealousy of a young and beautiful woman, makes a mockery of justice and brings shame to the people involved in such a dirty and lawless operation,” Boyd-Nafstad added.
Christa Boyd-Nafstad
