Senator Seeks AGs Input On Deportation Legislation HAGÅTÑA, Guam (Pacific Daily News, Oct. 16, 2013) — Sen. Rory Respicio yesterday (October 15) asked the attorney general to recommend changes to Guam law to make it easier to deport convicts from the freely associated states. The request comes after a legislative hearing Monday on the topic of deporting people who immigrated to Guam because of federal treaties and commit crimes here. Its an issue of public safety and public funding, officials said during that meeting, noting it costs taxpayers $118 a day to keep convicts in the local prison. Federal treaties called compacts of free association allow citizens from the Republic of Palau, the Republic of the Marshall Islands and the Federated States of Micronesia to live and work on Guam and elsewhere in the United States. During the Monday legislative roundtable discussion, Attorney General Leonardo Rapadas said in order to meet federal standards for what constitutes deportation, local criminal statutes may have to be amended. The Guam government cannot deport people. Immigration is controlled by the federal government. Guam lawmakers have required the local government to make federal immigration officials aware of convicts who are eligible to be deported, and to prepare documents needed to allow them to be deported. About 19 regional immigrants during the past several months have been convicted of crimes that make them eligible for deportation, Rapadas told lawmakers on Monday. I request that you consult with the U.S. Department of Justice, and submit to I Liheslatura your recommendations for statutory amendments, so that we may meet the conditions described under COFA, and productively advance the deportation of certain FAS citizens who are criminals, Respicio said in a letter to Rapadas.
Posted on: Thu, 17 Oct 2013 07:46:57 +0000
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