The federal government’s refusal to pay the school and medical bills for Pacific island migrants in the United States has dropped the financial responsibility on Hawaii and other states. With federal expenditures tightened, creative ways need to be found to meet the U.S. obligation to migrants from the Marshall Islands, Micronesia and Palau, yet ease the growing burden on states.
Gov. Neil Abercrombie reported to the U.S. Department of Interior’s Office of Insular Affairs on Tuesday that education and medical care for Pacific migrants cost the state $114.9 million last year, up from $32 million in 2002. Those hefty expenses were supposed to be paid by the U.S. government under the 1985 Compact of Free Association Act, but a 1996 welfare reform law stripped the migrants of federal Medicaid eligibility. Last December, Federal District Judge J. Michael Seabright ordered Hawaii’s government to restore life-saving health care to low-income migrants. That left the state, unfairly, holding the financial bag.
Abercrombie is now calling for legislative changes that would allow Pacific migrants to directly receive federal Medicaid, welfare, food stamps and other benefits; that would reduce the states’ role in fronting such costs. U.S. Sen. Daniel Akaka, meanwhile, has introduced a bill that would restore federal Medicaid eligibility for the Pacific migrants. The proposals face an uphill battle while Congress looks for ways to cut back on federal expenditures, but in tandem, at least provide vehicles with which Hawaii’s delegation can push forth for relief.
About 40,000 Marshall Islanders and Micronesians live in the U.S., including more than 12,200 in Hawaii and 10,000 in Arkansas. In May, Hawaii’s congressional delegation, joined by other members of Congress, including both senators from Arkansas, suggested "reducing the number of migrants who are likely to become a public charge" to states. In a letter to Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and Interior Secretary Kenneth L. Salazar, they asked for bilateral meetings to consider "screening measures" by the island governments "to reduce the rate of migration of persons who are likely to develop an overreliance on social services."
Not surprisingly, Marshall Islands Foreign Minister John Silk objected that imposing "a de facto visa requirement" on his country’s citizens in the U.S. "could violate both the letter and spirit of the compact." Ironically, the congressional letter came two days after Marshall Islands landowners agreed to allow the U.S. use of the Kwajalein missile testing range through 2066. The Marshalls were used by the U.S. to test nuclear weapons following World War II.
Dr. Wilfred Alik, who works with the Micronesian Health Advisory Coalition, points out that the main promise of the U.S. as the islands’ trustee following their wartime alliance was "to make them self-sufficient." He suggests that making the islands economically sound would "keep these people from coming over here" to the U.S.
Not likely. People migrate to the United States from every corner of the world and Pacific island migrants’ access to the U.S. promised in the 1985 compact was and remains special.
Still, Alik has a point. Self-sufficiency might be too much to achieve, but reassessing the situation at the source of migration might well yield solutions not readily apparent.
No, the U.S. government should not shirk its responsibility to help the island nations become more economically self-sufficient, healthy and viable.But Hawaii, Arkansas and other states did not sign on to the compact and should no longer be held responsible for keeping promises made by the federal government.
