Commonwealth of Northern Mariana Islands (CNMI)
Human-trafficking victims' use of VEP junked
Saipan Tribune
Deputy Attorney General Clyde Lemons has junked a plan to bring in human trafficking victims to the CNMI as tourists.
Human-trafficking victims' use of VEP junked
By Agnes Donato
Reporter
Friday, December 16, 2005
Deputy Attorney General Clyde Lemons has junked a plan to bring in human trafficking victims to the CNMI as tourists.
Lemons, who has been assigned responsibility for the safe haven regulations, said he would not allow the Visitor Entry Permit process to be used for the purpose of establishing a safe haven in the CNMI for the girls rescued from prostitution in Cambodia.
"I have not and will not issue any VEPs for this purpose. I have advised USIM's legal counsel that I will not use the VEP for this purpose. It is my humble interpretation of the regulations that the VEP regs do not fit this situation; otherwise there would have been no need to promulgate the safe haven regs," Lemons wrote in an email to the Saipan Tribune.
USIM stands for United States International Mission, a non-profit organization that seeks to establish a facility for Vietnamese human trafficking victims in the CNMI.
Lemons noted that a public hearing on the proposed safe haven regulations would be held on Dec. 29, 2005. "So nobody will be entering the CNMI at the end of the month under this program," he said.
On Friday, USIM president David J. Sablan disclosed efforts to have 20 to 30 human trafficking victims enter the CNMI through the VEP process before the end of December.
Attorney General Pamela S. Brown said that the purpose of the plan was to allow renowned filmmaker Leonard Gast to create a documentary on the rescue of the Vietnamese victims from brothels in Cambodia and their escape to Thailand and then the CNMI. Gast is the director of the award-winning boxing documentary "When We Were Kings."
Hollywood actress Daryl Hannah will also be involved in the film project, according to Brown.
Brown has now delegated the responsibility for the safe haven regulations to Lemons, in the hopes of dispelling an accusation that she was supporting the project for personal gain.
The proposed safe haven regulations, published in the Nov. 25, 2005 edition of the Commonwealth Register, would allow the CNMI to host international victims of human trafficking and forced prostitution, particularly ethnic Vietnamese living in Cambodia.
"The Attorney General finds that the proximity of the CNMI to Southeast Asia and its plenary power over immigration provides a useful tool in fighting the global problem of human trafficking and forced labor," read a public notice on the proposed regulations.
"This regulation is intended to allow approved non-profit charitable corporations to establish a safe, healthy environment for victims while carefully continuing to monitor the entry of aliens into the Commonwealth," the notice also said.
According to the proposed regulations, the Safe Haven Entry Permit will be limited to children aged 8 to 16, who will be sponsored by a non-profit entity dedicated to rescuing victims of human trafficking and sexual slavery.
Initial permits would be issued for a 90-day period, but they may be renewed indefinitely at the attorney general's discretion. A holder of such permit may eventually transfer to foreign student immigration status if he or she meets requirements.