Vice Speaker Fetu Fetui says he has a list of Asians who have been issued permanent resident ID cards even though they have not lived in the territory for the requisite amount of time to be granted permanent residence status, which is 20 years.
His claims on the House floor prompted a hearing yesterday with Attorney General Mitzie Jessop Taase and Fanene Edda Wyberski, chair of the Immigration Board.
Chief Immigration Officer Peseta Dennis Lutu was a no show and there was no explanation given on why he didn’t attend.
Chairman of the House Legal Affairs & Judiciary Committee, Rep Gafatasi Afalava, who’s also a member of the Immigration Board chaired the hearing.
The Vice Speaker said the Fono has received numerous reports of unlawful actions and dealings occurring at the Immigration Office.
He told the attorney general these actions were before her time but are still happening. And he has a list of Chinese nationals who possess permanent ID cards but they have not lived in the territory for 20 years.
He asked Jessop Taase if she was aware of what he was talking about.
The AG expressed surprise at what she was hearing and said she was not aware of this.
She explained that she is the only one who approves applications for permanent residency. And there is a process to follow.
Those eligible are foreigners who have lived here continuously for 20 years. She said there’s a review of a person’s immigration file to ensure they meet the requirements and after everything is cleared she will sign off on the application.
They are now processing applications from 2019 and some from 2020.
The AG asked that the Vice Speaker give her his list of Chinese with permanent resident ID cards after the hearing and Fetu assured he would.
He told the AG that she may have signed some of the applications unknowingly, and it was not her fault.
Fetu said now is the time to fix the problems at the Immigration Office, because if not now, then when? And if not them, who will?
Play Audio
The Vice Speaker reiterated that this was a very serious matter and the AG needed to address it.
The chair of the Immigration Board Fanene revealed during the hearing that there were still a lot of Asians showing up at the Immigration Office for their first ID cards and this was happening during the closures from COVID-19.
She said some of them only arrived in May.
Fanene suspected that some of the immigrants are arriving through back door means. She later told KHJ News she believes there’s human trafficking going on.
She echoed the Vice Speaker’s statements that decisive action is needed to stop immigration law violations.
Play Audio
