Maybe I need a vacation, but I keep coming back to the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands – the United States’s possession (technically a commonwealth in political union with the U.S.) that adopted the Immigration and Nationality Act on November 28, 2009.

Among the strange new laws in this remote corner of the Pacific is the provision that aliens seeking asylum in the CNMI cannot do so until January 1, 2015.  In the interim, aliens fearing persecution can apply for withholding of removal under INA § 241(b)(3) or the United Nations Convention Against Torture.  Chief Immigration Judge Brian M. O’Leary has issued a memorandum discussing the transition to the INA.  Chief Judge O’Leary points to a number of “novel” legal issues that might arise:

There may also be a variety of issues involving the provision that aliens “physically present in or arriving in” the CNMI cannot apply for asylum until January 1, 2015. For example, the law is silent on whether an alien who transited through the CNMI en route to another area of the United States is barred from applying for asylum until January 1, 2015. Other issues may involve what type of legal status aliens who have previously been granted refugee protection under CNMI law are entitled to.

These issues and others seem like fertile ground for litigation.  Maybe we will revisit the Mariana Islands soon.