Pemberton can’t be deported

Lance Corporal Joseph Scott Pemberton. File Photo from Olongapo City Police

NEWLY appointed Justice Secretary Alfredo Benjamin Caguioa on Thursday said the Bureau of Immigration’s (BI) deportation order against United States Marine Lance Corporal Joseph Scott Pemberton cannot be implemented while his case is being tried in court.

In a statement, Caguioa said it is within the BI’s jurisdiction to determine a foreigner’s “undesirability,” arising from the person’s existing criminal or civil cases. The BI’s declaration that an alien is undesirable would result in his deportation.

However, the Department of Justice chief stressed that a foreigner cannot be deported until the cases against him pending in Philippine courts have been decided, and in the event that the foreigner is found guilty of the charges, he has to serve his sentence first before he can be deported.

In the case of Pemberton, Caguioa said, the murder case filed against him for the alleged murder of transgender woman Jennifer Laude is still pending trial before an Olongapo City Regional Trial Court. Jerome Aning and Tina G. Santos