Overstayers in Marshall Islands fight for residence
Three overstayers in Marshall Islands have gone to court to fight deportation orders issued by the Department of Immigration.
Transcript
Three overstayers in Marshall Islands have gone to court to fight deportation orders issued by the Department of Immigration.
Two of the people appealing were employees of the Ministry of Public Works and have been illegal residents for several years.
The Department has been cracking down on overstayers since the appointment of its chief executive, Damien Jacklick, about a year ago.
Our correspondent Giff Johnson told Indira Moala the three cases show that the violation of visas is a significant issue for the country.
GIFF JOHNSON: There seems to be a left-hand, right-hand issue in the deportation situation. There's two instances in the three cases now in court, one where the Ministry of Public Works has told immigration that it wants to employ the person who is under a deportation removal order till nearly the end of the year. Then in another situation, the immigration department headquarters in Majuro issued a removal notice but it's Ebeye branch office approved the residency permit for the individual through the end of December this year. So yeah, there are a variety of things happening within the government which are confounding efforts of the immigration Director.
IM: And during this time, the persons involved in these three cases, will they be allowed to continue working until the decision is made?
GJ: Well this is one of the really interesting questions, whether they will be or not, it's not clear although probably the answer is yes. Because since the immigration office doesn't have independent funding in order to buy people's tickets to send them back to their homes, it has to rely on the individuals buying their own. So that's another element that stymies removal of aliens who have overstayed their visa.
IM: With one particular case, the department of Immigration says that if an overseas resident marries a Marshallese citizen, they can be granted residency. But in the case of Glen Araves the approval for his marriage license was declined by the Department of Immigration. Do we know any specific reason why? He got married in 2009 and they have two children already.
GJ: I think because they considered him to be a visa violator at the time that he applied for a marriage license.
IM: If he had violated his visa back then, obviously he was still working.
GJ: Yeah
IM: Was that legally? Working for the Ministry...
GJ: Well according to the Immigration Department, the answer's no. He and these other people who were under removal orders now have all been in the country illegally for a number of years
IM: And was the Ministry of Public Works aware of that?
GJ: I have no idea and the fact of the matter is, is that historically there's been very lax enforcement of border controls here. It's only recently, under the administration of Damien Jacklick who took over the directorship of immigration about a year ago, that he's been stepping up enforcement of visas.
IM: And how do people in general in the Marshall Islands feel about the stronger enforcement of legal residency?
GJ: Well I think people probably see it as a reasonable thing. It's just that it's been quite a while since there's been any enforcement. It's a problematic situation of addressing visa overstayers in the Marshall Islands and I think that's what is really showing from these latest three attempts to remove people from other countries.
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