(11-13-24) Marshall Island Ambassador to Washington Charles Paul was at the St. Marys City Council meeting on Monday to discuss issues about Marshall Island residents located in the area. Paul was also scheduled to stop in Celina and talk with Celina Mayor Jeff Hazel.
Ambassador to the Marshall Islands speaks to the public at St. Marys City Council
According to a January Statehouse News Bureau story…There’s no official count on their numbers in Celina, but city officials estimate around 1,500 Marshallese people live in the community.
BACKGROUND...the 2020 US census found that a population of 47,300. The United States has the highest concentration of Marshallese people outside the Marshall Islands. Most of these Marshallese people live in Hawaii and Arkansas, with significant populations in Washington, California, Oklahoma and Oregon.
Marshall Island residents can also travel and work in United States without having visas, thanks to the Compact of Free Association
Issues concerning Marshall Island related churches and residents were brought up in a public discussion at the previous St. Marys City Council meeting. The meeting caused a reaction from both sides of the issue.
During the meeting…Paul addressed some concerns—
Marshall Island citizens must meet certain requirements, such as not having a criminal record.
“We don’t hardly. It is a shock, really, because it’s a small community, If you have a criminal record, obviously you can’t get on a plane to come to the U.S. There’s specific rules to admittance into the United States under the compact. But essentially if you meet that criteria, and those things are mainly law enforcement issues, but if you meet that criteria, then you can then move to the United States.”
Ohio over the past several months has been the focus of Haitian immigration issues in Springfield, Lima and Findlay.
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City of St. Marys Council Meeting 11-11-2024
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I get tired of people trying to make this a racial issue. This is more a result of mistrust and mismanagement by the federal government. We already have a housing crisis in this country and in our area, and we are bringing in new people by the thousands. This is where all the anxiety comes from, not the racial makeup of the people! If our federal government was not allowing thousands of illegal immigrants to walk into our country, this would not be an issue!
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