Attorney General Douglas Moylan, keeping to one of his election promises, has started a deportation program. Only the federal government can initiate deportation proceedings to kick out convicted felons who are not United States citizens from the U.S.
The Office of the Attorney General of Guam program will be voluntary; a collaboration between a case prosecutor and the corresponding defense attorney for deportation if certain conditions are met, according to a news release from the OAG.
“For pre-judgment cases, the People are open to discussing the chance for non-US Citizens to suspend all or part their jail sentence, provided that certain criteria exists,” Mr. Moylan wrote in a letter to Guam Bar Association president Jacqueline Terlaje informing her and the members of the bar of the initiative.
Pre-judgment cases are criminal cases awaiting trial or a plea deal. Many of the people being held in the custody of the Guam Department of Corrections are awaiting trial. According to a report from the Guam Judiciary, as of July 20 this year, 141 of the crowded prison’s population are defendants awaiting trial for crimes allegedly committed since January 1. Another 222 awaiting trial for crimes allegedly committed during the same period are out in the community on pre-trial release.
Many of these 363 defendants, and several more of them who are charged with crimes before this year and still awaiting trial, are non-U.S. citizens.
Mr. Moylan wants to work with defense attorneys to identify from among this pre-trial pool of defendants, and send them to their home countries.
For non-U.S. citizen post-judgment convicts, Mr. Moylan also wants to work with defense lawyers to identify candidates for deportation whose local sentence can be suspended and who will then be deported.
Under both cases, the AG will seek U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement detainer and deportation. If that avenue is unavailable, the AG says prosecutors will ask for a stipulated, modified judgment, where an arrest warrant would be issued upon deportation. This way, if the deported person attempts to re-enter Guam, he or she will be arrested at the airport.
“I’m sure some of our clients would elect to be deported,” defense attorney and executive director of the Public Defender Services Corporation Stephen Hattori said. “The details are where these things get often get stuck. I wouldn’t rule it out in the appropriate case. We can work together to identify applicable cases so that we can help relieve the overcrowding at the department of corrections.”
“Guam has suffered too long from non-USA Citizens breaking our laws that result in crime victims,” Mr Moylan said. “We are working collaboratively with other local and Federal law enforcement departments and agencies to protect this Community against alien criminals. This AG promised if elected that we would crack down on non-US Citizen criminals to stop them from hurting us. Non-US Citizens are guests on our Island and we welcome them. However, if they choose to hurt us then we will use every means available, both voluntary and involuntary that will result in their imprisonment, punishment and removal.”
1 Comments
Metgut Ga'ga'
08/24/2023 at 6:32 PM
They chose, showed, and imposed their will to hurt us.
This is an excellent position and
paramount duty…I’ll never forget when I was a security and stabbed multiple times. I woke up and realized we all can do this. Then the question that’s stopped me from advocating…where’s the AG?