ICE Targeting the Marshallese
“The first week of each year is busy with the Marshallese community. It is called “Jar in Maan Yio” which is a 7-day prayer fest meeting that begins early in the morning. The morning of January 5 while I was getting ready for our service I received a Facebook message from five community members in Northwest Arkansas about U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement raids in our community. I didn’t pay attention until I was at the church and approached by the cousin of the individual who got picked up by ICE. She told me to check my Facebook messages because her cousin's girlfriend wanted to talk to me. I thought there was only one individual who got picked up by ICE. After reading all of the Facebook messages, I was shocked to find out that there were 6 who were picked up. The following week while meeting with Beth Coger and Sarah Moore I found out that there were close to 20 Marshallese picked up on January 3 and January 4 in our community.
According to my source, there were about 100+ Marshallese who got deported last year from NWA. Each month I would get 3 or 4 families asking for help to find an immigration attorney. Every time I would recommend they call the RMI Consulate in Springdale or our Marshall Islands Embassy in Washington DC. Sara and Beth provided me with a copy of SCAAP 2023 Data during our meeting. SCAAP is a grant provided by the government. When someone’s arrested in WCDC, they are asked for their country of birth. If it is anywhere other than the USA, and if the jail employees think someone's undocumented, they gather more information, personal information, and any identifying information and they give that to the DOJ which then shares it with the Department of Homeland Security and ICE. The 98 Marshallese were on the list of incarcerated persons of whom the personal information was provided from July 1, 2021, through June 30, 2022.
The Marshall Islands and the US have a special agreement called The Compact of Free Association in which Marshallese citizens can come to the US without a visa and may work and study and in return the Marshallese allow the US to rent one of the islands for an Army Base. The Compact is very unique and has positive and negative components. Many believed that because we have this agreement Marshallese are not subject to deportation but that is false because Marshallese are resident aliens. If resident aliens have been convicted of a felony or of a misdemeanor that fits the definition of a crime of moral turpitude; therefore, they can be deported. This is the case even if they are in good standing and have paid their fines. This made our community fearful, as most of these individuals who were picked up were in good standing. It is a clear sign to our community that even if you're in good standing, ICE will hunt you down.
For the past 2 weeks, I have been helping these families who were affected by the ICE raid. Hearing their stories makes me sick and sad that it is happening in NWA. Most of them were picked up from their house and their probation officer's office. Without resisting and not knowing their rights these individuals just gave up their rights because they were in fear. These ICE agents just show up with unmarked vehicles, not showing identification, and not providing warrants. If ICE cannot find them at their house they call them in to come to their probation officer's office with their passport. The trust will be broken because of this action by ICE. These individuals have shown good faith that they came to their probation officer's office just to find out that they are about to get deported. I have spoken to 16 of the individuals who are now at Winn Correctional Center in Winnfield, Louisiana waiting for deportation. There are about 20+ of them and most of them have broken English. They asked for an interpreter but one wasn’t provided. All the forms are in English and only two of the individuals spoke English, because they came to the US when they were just 1 and 4 years old. On the form, there are 3 options which they can choose. The officers always recommended they sign option number 1 which is to waive their rights and deportation. Option 2 is to fight their case which they said the officers told them if they choose 2 they will always lose and still get deported. Also, if they choose option number 2 they will stay in Winn Correctional for 5-10 years. The last option is to ask for asylum which is not recommended by Winn officers. We have asked all of our Marshallese not to sign any of the forms as we seek help.
In the summer of 2018, I took 13 Marshallese to the Texas border in Del Rio. Again, Marshallese can come to the US without a visa with their own Republic of Marshall Islands passport and the US will attach an I-94 form. This form tells when an individual enters the US by air or by land. This form is so important that if an individual doesn’t have it, along with the RMI passport, he/she cannot work or apply for Social Security and a driver's license. These 13 individuals lost their i94 and the fastest and cheapest way to get a new i94 is to cross the US/Mexico to get a new i94. Since 2017 I have helped over 800 Marshallese get new i94 by taking them on a 12-hour journey to the US/Mexico border. This trip was my worst nightmare. We crossed the border and re-entered the US border around 6 am. This should be an easy trip as this was our 16th trip. But because the agent there was new he told us to get out of the van and go inside the office where we met the supervisor Barabra. While talking to these inmates for the past 2 weeks it brought back memories of my conversation with supervisor Barabra. I feel their pain and how they are treated by the ICE. Supervisor Barabra, who was evil, told us that our passport was fake. She said there was no such country as the Marshall Islands. She told us to throw our passports in the trash cans and she held us for 12 hours without food or letting us use the bathroom. She told us not to talk to each other and she took all of our phones. She forced some to sign forms to deport them to Mexico; however, I didn’t sign any of the forms. Before she took our phone away I got to call our Consul General Eldon at the time and inform him. Thank God he called Barabra and they talked back and forth for 12 hours. Luckily it was a shift change and the lead for the next shift knew about the Marshall Islands. He told Barabra that Marshallese were legally in the US and Eldon emailed her all the facts about RMI. Finally, after 12 hours we were released. This was my worst experience with an ICE official. I believe everything that the Marshallese inmates were saying to me about their treatment at Winn Correctional Facility.
Most of the individuals have family here in NWA and have US-citizen children. These individuals are the head of the household in their family and are in good standing. We received information that there is a list and that this was just the beginning of this year's ICE raid. This is a big deal in our community that we started a conversation among leaders in the community to organize our community if ICE comes to our home or work. I believe in second chances and hope you do too. What will happen to all the families that are affected by this? How many families will have no father or head of the household? Who will take care of these families? We came to the US for a better future and opportunity for us. We know that we make mistakes and are paying for our mistakes. Let me remind you that these inmates were in good standing with the legal system and their probation officers. I fear that if these individuals get deported to the Marshall Islands they will have no support. There is no program that is ready for them and helps them. Marshallese moved to the US because our islands are contaminated with radiation. The US used our islands to practice their nuclear bombs and our islands faced climate changes. Moreover, the Marshall Islands is one of the most US-friendly countries which voted with the US 99% in the UN. I urge you to support us in this campaign to end ICE deportation within the Marshallese community. Kommool tata!” (Albious Latior, Ozark Atolls)