Foreign Relations Migration From Micronesian Nations Has Had Significant Impact On Guam Hawaii And The Commonwealth Of The Northern Mariana Islands PDF Download

The United States is party to international agreements, in the form of Compacts of Free Association, that include provisions granting the citizens of three small Pacific Island nations the right to live and work in the United States. One of these Compacts was enacted in 1986 with the Federated States of Micronesia and the Republic of the Marshall Islands, while the second Compact was implemented in 1994 with the Republic of Palau. Compact enabling legislation states that, in approving the Compacts, the Congress did not intend to cause any adverse consequences for U.S. territories, commonwealths, or the state of Hawaii. While many of the provisions of the Compact with the Federated States of Micronesia and the Republic of the Marshall Islands, including those providing U.S. economic assistance, are due to expire in 2001 and are being renegotiated, the Compact s migration provisions do not expire. 1 However, the governments of the U.S. island areas of Guam (an unincorporated U.S. territory in the western Pacific), Hawaii (a U.S. state), and the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands (a self-governing commonwealth of the United States), have raised concerns about the adverse financial and public health impact that they attribute to the many citizens from the Compact nations that have availed themselves of Compact migration rights.