“The 25,000 Hawaii residents from countries of Micronesia, the Marshall Islands and Palau who are legally allowed to live and work in the US are facing greater risk of removal if they have been arrested, charged with or convicted of certain crimes — even years after they have served their sentences in jails or prisons.”
This is the lead sentence in an article in the April 8 edition of the Honolulu Star-Advertiser.
A key point of this story is the statement that ICE is detaining non-citizens, including those from RMI and other Compact nations, who have not been charged with a crime.
“They (citizens of the three Compact nations) are among the larger population of non-citizens in Hawaii who are under the watchful eye of the US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agency,” the article reported.
Honolulu-based immigration lawyer Neribel Chardon told the Star-Advertiser that ICE is detaining non-citizens across the state who have been arrested but not charged with a crime. She said, though, it’s more prevalent for undocumented residents and beneficiaries of the Compacts of Free Association.
Prior to President Donald Trump’s second term, ICE was not focused on deporting convicted Compact of Free Association migrants or non-citizens who had already fulfilled their criminal sentences, said the newspaper article. “But priorities have changed,” it added.
In January, following Donald Trump’s inauguration, the Justice Department issued a memo to all law enforcement agencies to ramp up their focus on illegal immigration. “Everyone is now focused on immigration,” said ICE spokesperson Richard Beam. “The world is just different now.”
He indicated a parking ticket or a minor traffic infraction would not necessarily be enough to lead to an immigration investigation for COFA migrants.
But immigration attorney Chardon warned that these minor violations could pose a greater risk for COFA migrants who already have a criminal history. She told the Star-Advertiser that DUIs (driving under the influence) or traffic infractions could work as “the door” that leads to ICE looking into one’s immigration and criminal statuses.
In related news, Journal reporter Hilary Hosia reports from Nitijela:
While the leaders of our nation were devising ways this week in Parliament to counter the Trump Administration on the recently imposed 10 percent tariffs, a closer-to-home sinister tornado of a targeted deportation scheme aimed at citizens of the RMI, FSM and Palau was brewing in Hawaii.
Hawaii is home to an estimated 25,000 COFA (Compact of Free Association) residents from the Federated States of Micronesia, Palau and the Marshall Islands.
A story this week in the Honolulu Star-Advertiser marks the first time US federal officials, immigration lawyers and journalists detail in public that ICE agents are deliberately targeting COFA residents by identifying those who had served their sentences years or decades in the past.
Honolulu-based immigration lawyer Neribel Chardon told the Star-Advertiser that ICE is detaining non-citizens across the state who have been arrested but not charged with crime, said the report. Despite being COFA migrants, they are still not naturalized citizens and “any criminal activity committed by a non-citizen, regardless of when it is committed, is a violation of US Immigration law and places the individual at risk of removal,” said ICE in a statement.
The above news paints a stark reality Micronesians are facing in Hawaii today: Past convictions are pathways to deportations and the Marshall Islands should expect a storm of deportations.
Meanwhile, in Parliament last week and this week, President Hilda Heine and her Cabinet are proposing the use of a “demarche” against the US Embassy in Majuro concerning the US imposition of a 10 percent tariff (tax) on anything exported by the RMI to the US. A “demarche” is action to protest a government’s policy or actions.
This would be the second time the Heine administration resorted to this extreme political tactic with the nation’s closest foreign ally and largest financial beneficiary.
On action to address the increasing number of Marshallese being deported from the US, Riem Simon and a few good men and women have recently acquired government recognition for the establishment of the non-profit Marshall Islands Halfway House organization.
The need to create a transition system for incoming deportees to the community has always been a huge gap for the community and has been repeatedly tabled at both the national level and local government of Majuro without much action.
The Halfway House is being created to close this gap and provide humane services for involuntary returnees from the US, Riem told the Journal.
Riem was joined by Ebon Parliament Member Marie Davis Milne, a top advocate for those being deported and human rights, along with Biram Stege, Cecelia Takiah and Junior Bay, all of whom hold officials titles in the new non-profit corporation.
In related Nitijela news, during Q&A sessions earlier this week, Parliament members continually:
- Sought updates from the Cabinet on mental health funding that used to be provided to RMI through the US Health and Human Services Department through its locally-based Single State Agency. Misuse of funds, which violated US grant rules, forced the RMI government last year to repay $1.3 million to the Health and Human Services Department. Nitijela members wanted updates on the status of the grants that were cut off by the US several years ago.
- Requested greater transparency on what took place and the aftermath of the recent drug bust inside the Marshall Islands Police Department jail in Majuro.