WASHINGTON COUNTY, ARKANSAS, Ark. — Over 20 men in the Marshallese community in Northwest Arkansas have reportedly been taken into U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) custody through a program between Washington County and the federal government that shares inmate information.
According to Sarah Moore with the Arkansas Justice Reform Coalition (AJRC), 21 men born in the Marshall Islands but living in Arkansas, some for up to 20 years, are in ICE custody because of Washington County's involvement in the State Criminal Alien Assistance Program (SCAAP).
SCAAP is a program that funds local governments that take on "correctional officer salary costs for incarcerating undocumented criminal aliens with at least one felony or two misdemeanor convictions ... and incarcerated for at least 4 consecutive days," the Bureau of Justice Assistance website says.
During the Washington County Quorum Court meeting on Monday, Jan. 22, Moore said the county's optional participation in the program led to ICE's detainment of the Marshallese men and subsequently splitting up families she says had been in the area for decades.
"I'm really asking us to reconsider our participation in these programs. While we value keeping families together, [SCAAP] does the complete opposite," Moore said.
Moore mentioned two men specifically who were detained by ICE. One had been in NWA for 20 years, with four kids, aged 8-21. She said if he was sent back to the Marshall Islands, he'd have nobody because his family was here.
She also mentioned another man in ICE detention in Louisiana has a one-year-old son. "If he's deported, his one-year-old son will grow up here without his father and he won't see his father until he's a grown man."
While residents of the Marshall Islands technically aren't considered U.S. Citizens, they are eligible to live and work in the U.S. indefinitely. Citizens of the Marshall Islands are considered "lawful non-immigrants," according to the Compacts of Free Association, which lays out the relationship between the U.S. and the Republic of the Marshall Islands.
During the quorum court meeting on Monday, members were slated to vote on whether to continue utilizing the SCAAP program in Washington County.
The Arkansas Coalition of Marshallese (ACOM) spoke out on the reports that dozens of Marshallese people in Northwest Arkansas have been detained by ICE in the last three weeks.
"For us, if there are folks that are repeat offenders and not abiding by the law, those are the individuals that should be sent home. But then we have individuals that, if they have misdemeanors, we don't want them to be deported. They're mostly sole providers for their family members," ACOM project coordinator Stephanie Takamaru said.
With more and more Marshallese families being separated, those left behind are turning to the coalition for help.
"It's been crazy. Today alone, I've had seven different phone calls from family members. One of them wanted to know where their loved one was. So luckily, I was able to locate him and now it's just a matter of having that individual reach out to their family and just let them know how he's doing," Takamaru said.
Takamaru says that the coalition is working to locate detainees and connect families to attorneys.
"We have been connecting people to attorneys and informing them that they need to hire attorneys. We always make sure that we have that information available to the family members," Takamaru said. "A lot of the issues that we're facing is people can't locate their detained family members, so we're lucky that we were able to connect with a couple of organizations out here to locate them through the ICE system online."
Now, Takamaru explains that the big question for the Marshallese community is where it stops with misdemeanor charges.
Sheriff Jay Cantrell says Washington County has taken part in the SCAAP program for 15 years.
The sheriff's office submits the names of people who meet the criteria for detainment to the Bureau of Justice Assistance, not directly to ICE, Cantrell said.
"We collect that data, we submit it, but you know, usually it's a year or two, sometimes even three years behind. Every year, they put some money in the Attorney General's budget for SCAAP," Cantrell said.
To meet the SCAAP criteria to face detainment, you have to be:
- A non-us citizen
- Convicted of two criminal misdemeanor crimes or a felony offense
- Would have to be in the Washington County jail for at least four consecutive days
"SCAAP has nothing to do with deporting anyone or going out and doing a round up to find people that are illegal. It's only people that have come to jail and met those criteria in the in the grant reporting period," Cantrell said.
The program is voluntary, but the Washington County Sheriff's Office (WCSO) receives money for its participation.
"We call it a grant, but it's actually reimbursement. We don't know, from year to year, what that reimbursement amount will be," Cantrell recalled.
Cantrell says the money goes to help cover costs to operate the jail.
"Running the Washington County jail is the most expensive thing we do in Washington County. You know, it's going to be $26 million this year, just to operate the Washington County jail. So, if we have an opportunity and try to recoup some of that cost, through these federal reimbursement programs, I think we owe it to the taxpayers to find those opportunities and to get that reimbursement," Cantrell said.
Cantrell does not believe Marshallese people are being targeted.
"We're happy to hear they're providing a service, they're working, they're raising their families here, trying to build a better life. I don't fault them at all for that. But there are rules and there are laws and as long as those are adhered to, then they're likely not to be encountered by law enforcement," Cantrell said.
In an official statement, ICE said that the arrests "were a small part of a larger five-state operation, and every person arrested by ICE was a convicted criminal that had full due process, or will go through the immigration removal process."
"Regardless of nationality, ICE makes custody determinations on a case-by-case basis ... Officers prioritize enforcement actions following the Guidelines for the Enforcement of Civil Immigration Law," Ice said.
Watch 5NEWS on YouTube.
Download the 5NEWS app on your smartphone:
Stream 5NEWS 24/7 on the 5+ app: How to watch the 5+ app on your streaming device
To report a typo or grammatical error, please email KFSMDigitalTeam@tegna.com and detail which story you're referring to.