About 45,000 citizens of the Marshall Islands, a Pacific island nation with a Compact of Free Association (COFA) with the United States, live in the states. As an independent nation with a COFA, the Republic of the Marshall Islands provides its own – Marshallese – citizenship to its residents. Citizens of the Marshall Islands can live, work, and study freely in the United States under the terms of the COFA. However, since they are not U.S. citizens, COFA citizens can also be deported.
Deportations Have Increased
Between 2002 and 2024, 341 Marshallese citizens were deported from the U.S. In 2024, a record 67 were removed, and in the first half of 2025, 47 were deported just from Northwest Arkansas, the site of the largest Marshallese community in the United States. Arkansas State Police reportedly told Arkansas GRITA they had detained 48 more between September 2025 and February 2026. On July 31, 2026, the Marshall Islands Journal print version reported 51 deportations in. the first half of 2026. Figures from ICE are available only up to 2024; publicly available data for 2025 and 20-26 show numbers of detainees only, and do not give national origin. In spite of the imperfect data, it appears that deportations of Marshallese people have increased sharply over the past few years, from an average of 16 per year for 22 years to 67 in 2024, more than 100 in 2025, and potentially more than 150 in 2026.
Going Home?
Since Marshallese citizens are not U.S. citizens, it may seem that their deportation is just a matter of being sent home. ICE press focuses on one New York Marshall Islander who was convicted of a sex offense, implying that the deportees are dangerous criminals. Neither of these impressions show the whole picture.
First, people being deported have in some cases ended up at Guantanamo Bay, a prison facility in Cuba, rather than in the Marshall Islands. Those who reach the Marshall Islands have in many cases lived nearly all their lives in the United States and do not have the knowledge and skills to work and live in the Marshall Islands. Family members are often strangers and have heard that the “returnees” are criminals. Some find that their relatives are afraid to meet them.
Is this the richly-deserved fate of dangerous criminals? 74% of detainments began with traffic stops. The crimes for which people have been deported include failure to appear in court, public intoxication, shoplifting, trespassing, out of date passports, and misdemeanors for which they have already served jail time.
For those who have actually committed crimes, the Marshall Islands has no plans or programs for rehabilitation and re-entry into the community.
Deportations Permitted Under the Compact of Free Association
Some concerned observers suggest that rounding up Marshallese citizens for mass deportations, as happened in June of 2025, breaks the Compact of Free Association between the United States and RMI. In fact, COFA citizens can be deported from the United States just like any other foreign nationals.
The COFA for the Marshall Islands gives Marshallese citizens a special legal non-immigrant status, but they can still be deported. The experience of the Marshallese gives clear evidence that free association is very different from U.S. citizenship. The United States has relationships of free association with three nations, each of which is a completely independent country. None has U.S. citizenship.
There has been recent interest in Puerto Rico in Free Association as a perceived way to keep U.S. citizenship while also becoming a sovereign island nation. The reality on the ground shows that such an arrangement does not exist, and pursuing such a path may bring unintended consequences.
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