Micronesian Migrants Living in Poverty

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Micronesian Migrants Living in Poverty

By Haidee V. Eugenio

SAIPAN, Northern Mariana Islands (October 29, 2001 - Marianas Variety/PINA Nius Online)---Many Micronesians who migrated to the Northern Marianas, Guam and Hawai‘i under provisions of a Compact of Free Association "live in poverty," a report concludes.

Migrants from the Federated States of Micronesia, the Marshall Islands and Palau have cost these American islands at least $371 million from 1986 through 2000, the report said.

The report is titled "Foreign Relations: Migrations from Micronesian Nations Has Had Significant Impact on Guam, Hawai‘i and the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands." It was prepared by the United States General Accounting Office, the investigative arm of the United States Congress.

The Compacts of Free Association govern relations between America and those parts of the former Trust Territory of the Pacific Islands that opted for independence. They give America some military and foreign affairs rights in exchange for economic assistance and immigration access to the United States.

The report says that under the Compacts 14,000 people have moved to neighboring American Pacific islands, mostly in search of work and educational opportunities.

Costs have been concentrated in the areas of health and education.

Surveyed migrants, according to the report, were working in jobs that required few skills and paid low wages and most -- over 50 percent – were living in poverty in Hawai‘i, Guam and the Northern Marianas.

The report said most Compact migrants were "not highly educated."

The Northern Marianas, Guam and Hawai‘i have also raised concerns about public health problems associated with Compact migrants, said the General Accounting Office.

It cited U.S. Department of the Interior surveys showing that Guam had the most Compact migrants at 6,550, followed by Hawai‘i with 5,500 and the Northern Marianas with 1,775.

The destination for migrants shifted from the Northern Marianas in the early 1980s to Guam, from the mid-1980s to the mid-1990s, and then to Hawai‘i in more recent years.

The report also noted that population growth in the Federated States of Micronesia had stopped in recent years. In the Marshalls, it is has fallen to under two percent annually.

"Government officials in these countries view out migration as a key safety valve to easing problems associated with limited economic opportunities in these small nations," the report said.

Many of the provisions of the Compact with Federated States of Micronesia and the Marshalls - including those providing U.S. economic assistance – are due to expire and are being renegotiated.

The migration provisions, however, do not expire.

Trials of Trusteeship · Remembering an Adopted Cousin · The Role of the Beachcombers in the Caroline Islands · The "Push" to Migrate · A Leap Into the Unknown · Micronesian Migrants Living in Poverty · Blackbirding in the 21st Century · The Expensive Taste for Modernity · Cultural Loss: How Real is the Threat? · Former FSM Senator Bossy Died September 24, 1997 · An Alternative Strategy for Developing a Micronesian Export Economy · The Clam Industry in the Marshalls · The Call to Arms: Micronesians in the Military · Lessons Learned · Sacred Place, Taboo Place: Negotiating Roang on Lamotrek Atoll · Carolinian-Marianas Voyaging, Continuing the Tradition · Paradise with Rough Edges · Micronesia Settled 5,000 Years Ago

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