A woman wanted by the District Court for the Northern Mariana Islands since October 2022 to answer a charge related to an alleged scheme to transport illegal aliens has been arrested on Guam, and is now undergoing removal to the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands.
Xiaohui Zhu is charged with one count of conspiracy to transport illegal aliens. She is one of eight defendants named in an October 2022 case at the NMI District Court. All of the defendants are citizens of the People's Republic of China, according to the indictment. Zhu and the others allegedly pooled their money to purchase a $32,000 boat in Saipan on July 29, 2022, which was then allegedly used to travel to Guam on or about July 31, 2022.
The indictment alleges that they used the boat because they wanted to avoid immigration processes. Authorities located the boat at the Hagåtña Boat Basin on Guam after it came ashore with all eight defendants, the indictment added.
The U.S. attorney for Guam and the NMI filed a petition for a writ of removal on Zhu on June 4. She was arrested on Guam that same day, according to the petition.
An initial appearance hearing for the petition took place Thursday morning. According to the hearing minutes, a "warrant" of removal was issued and Zhu was remanded to the custody of the U.S. Marshals Service for removal to the CNMI.
Zhu hasn't been the only one removed to the CNMI recently for allegedly scheming to transport illegal aliens. A writ of removal was also issued on Ying Liu on May 29.
Like Zhu, Liu is charged with conspiracy to transport illegal aliens at the NMI District Court, but he has a different case number and is part of a different set of defendants, also said to be Chinese citizens. But Liu and his co-defendants are essentially alleged to have done the same as Zhu and her co-defendants.
The difference is that Liu and his co-defendants are alleged to have purchased a $20,000 boat and arrived on Guam several days before Zhu and her co-defendants, on July 25, 2022.
Around the time of these arrivals, Guam was seeing an increase in Chinese nationals illegally arriving on island in boats they chartered from Saipan and prompted the creation of a task force consisting of the Guam Police Department and Guam Customs and Quarantine Agency to arrest the captains of the boats.
Also, like Zhu, the NMI District Court issued an arrest warrant for Liu in October 2022.
An initial hearing for a removal petition against Liu was held on May 21, but according to the minutes, Liu's appointed attorney asked for additional time to speak with him about his rights and options, and to research issues, including whether the proper venue for the charge was the Guam District Court instead of the NMI District Court.
An identity hearing was scheduled for Liu on May 29. However, he signed an acknowledgment of identity on that day, acknowledging that he is the person named in the NMI court's arrest warrant.