[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 145 (1999), Part 6] [House] [Page 7890] [From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]ILLEGAL IMMIGRANTS IN GUAM The SPEAKER pro tempore. Under a previous order of the House, the gentleman from Guam (Mr. Underwood) is recognized for 5 minutes. Mr. UNDERWOOD. Mr. Speaker, this is the third time in 3 weeks that I have taken the opportunity to give a special order on an ongoing crisis in my home island of Guam, and this pertains to the continuing arrival of illegal immigrants from the People's Republic of China. During this past week, there was yet another 200, over 200 illegal immigrants who have arrived. On October 23, 175 were apprehended off of Guam's waters and on April 28 another estimated 100 were apprehended near Guam's shores by the U.S. Coast Guard. {time} 1345 The number of apprehended illegal immigrants from the People's Republic caught near Guam is now well over 700 this year. A couple of weeks ago I informed this body and I have informed the administration about the inhuman ramifications of this smuggling trade in human beings into Guam. These people are being smuggled in by Chinese crime syndicates which charge them anywhere from $10,000 to $30,000 each. They set sail in squalid quarters meant to survive, in a vessel that is meant to survive a one-way trip in open ocean for over 10 days from the Fukien Province inside China to Guam, near Guam, and the Mariana Islands. Upon successfully completing the trip, they are then, if they are successful and if they land on Guam, invariably they are successful in getting some kind of asylum, they are made into indentured servants for many years to work to pay off their debt to the smugglers who have brought them into the United States. This is very unlike other economic refugees or even the border crossings that we see on our southern border. This is clearly a smuggling trade in which these people who are making the journey are as much victims as the people of Guam are being victimized by this trade. According to the INS officer in charge on Guam, Mr. David Johnston, the waves of illegal immigrants will not stop. We are faced with a phenomenon that will not stop unless we change the applicability of Federal law to Guam, in the case of immigration, the application of the Immigration and Naturalization Act, and unless we make it apparent to the Chinese smuggling crime syndicates that this will no longer be a profitable trade for them. There is a way out which has been utilized by the administration, a process which I fully endorse, and that is to take these people and instead of moving them to Guam, to take them up to the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands, another U.S. territory, but interestingly a U.S. territory in which the application of the Immigration and Naturalization Act does not fully apply. So what that means is that when these people are taken to the Northern Marianas, what happens is that they do not have the right to all the kinds of asylum which is generally available in Guam or any other U.S. territory. It is anticipated that from there they can be repatriated back to China within weeks rather than the 2 years it takes to adjudicate asylee cases, in which case most of the time they are generally released into American society. So as a consequence of this the Coast Guard has been taking and trying to interdict these vessels in the open ocean and moving them to the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands through the collaboration and cooperation of Governor Tenorio and other officials there, and for that at least the people of Guam are grateful, and we certainly endorse this policy, this practice which has been implemented by the Clinton administration. Illegal immigration into the United States is a Federal responsibility. Because of Guam's proximity to Asia, it is incumbent that Federal agencies assist the Government of Guam in combating this serious problem on our shores. It is important to understand that Guam is only 212 square miles in size and our population is only 150,000. Any significant increase in the immigrant population on the island has significant social and financial repercussions because of our financial, current financial conditions which are affected by the Asian economic crisis, and because we do not have the alternative resources available for noncriminal alien immigrants that are generally available in the U.S. mainland. The financial strain on Guam's resources are tremendous. I hope that we can find a way to reprogram some $10 to $15 million to take care of this problem on Guam and to reimburse the Government of Guam for costs that have already been expended on this crisis. ____________________