Here for work or here for refuge? These are questions that remain as the crackdown continues on Chinese nationals illegally entering into Guam by boat from the Northern Marianas. On Thursday, most of them appeared in local court to answer to the charges.

Denying they snuck into the island, a group of Chinese nationals seen walked into Superior Court Magistrate Judge Jonathan Quan's courtroom to answer to the charges filed against them. Xiao Juan Sun, Ruigang Li, Fu Jun Zhai, Jian Feng Li, Fu Li, Haize Lu, and Guo Qin She each pleaded not guilty to charges of failure to acquire clearance requirements, failure to deliver a manifest to a customs officer, and invalid place of unloading.

The defendants are not ready to publicly speak out.

Attorney General Leevin Camacho admitted to KUAM News that these cases are new for his prosecutors. He stated, "We’ve never prosecuted anyone for unlaw arrival into the island before for not submitting a manifest, but it wasn’t sufficient to not do anything. Right now we are monitoring these individuals we know were they are staying and they’re being required to report into probation and probation can also verify where they are at so we are now keeping tabs which was not happening four 4 weeks ago."

AS KUAM reported, 9 boats filled with passengers have disembarked on Guam's shorelines illegally from the CNMI over the last few months.

Since June they’ve intercepted 71 passengers, according to Director of Customs and Quarantine Ike Peredo. While only 9 arrests have been made, AG Camacho shares they continue to crack down on the arrivals.

"Customs and the Guam Police Department have located and arrested every single known driver that is on the island now," the AG noted.

Also arrested were Zhicong Huang and Jianfeng Lu, but the two did not appear in court this morning. "The nine defendants that represent all the known operators of boats who have unlawfully arrived on Guam," Camacho said.

He gives a clear warning to anyone else wanting to enter illegally saying, "The laws are clear that the operators of the boat who come in without submitting a manifest or giving prior notice are subject to criminal liability and we are going to review the evidence as we get it and if there are other charges we can pursue we are going to do it."

Police continue to encourage the community to report any suspicious boats or activity to CQA at 671-642-8071 or GPD at 671-475-8615.