A total of 101 deported from Guam since 2023; AG seeks to join ICE dragnet

By Mar-Vic Cagurangan

Hoping to deport “as many criminal aliens as possible,” Guam’s attorney general is seeking to ramp up his deportation crusade—with convicted Micronesians topping his list—through a collaboration with federal authorities.

Douglas Moylan

A total of 101 convicted aliens have been deported from Guam since 2023, with a dozen more in the system under pending process, Attorney General Douglas Moylan said.

He wrote to the Homeland Security Investigations' Guam office, requesting a list of all aliens who are currently subject to Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s removal proceedings.

In a letter to John Duenas, assistant special agent in charge, Moylan proposed to have investigators at the Office of the Attorney General “sworn in as ICE agents,” authorizing them to arrest those marked for deportation.

“While some on detainer are currently serving sentences in our Department of Corrections, others are on pre-trial release, potentially committing other crimes while they await trial,” Moylan said.

 “(We) can make our community even safer by getting rid of this segment of criminals in villages," the attorney general added, in response to the Pacific Island Times’ inquiry.

In 2023, the Office of the Attorney General launched a criminal deportation initiative, later dubbed Deport Air, which allows convicted foreigners who are under ICE detainers to get processed for early release and deportation.

For those who have no ICE detainers, the program also offers the voluntary deportation option through "stipulated amended judgment."

Last year, the Office of the Attorney General launched the Deport Air billboard, which carried the mug shots of 40 convicted aliens who were urged to choose self-deportation.

“This project includes facilitating ICE deportations, especially Federated States of Micronesia citizens who have a high violent and non-violent crime rate compared with other non-U.S. citizen countries,” Moylan wrote.

What is an immigration detainer?
    An immigration detainer is a request from ICE that asks a federal, state or local law enforcement agency, including jails, prisons or other confinement facilitie, to notify the requesting agency as early as possible before they release a removable alien; or old the alien for up to 48 hours beyond the time they would ordinarily release them so DHS has time to assume custody in accordance with federal immigration law. 

Of the 101 aliens deported since 2023, five were processed through the Office of the Attorney General's "motions and stipulations to amend release conditions," while three others opted to self-deport, Moylan said.

"The rest of the Deport Air 40 group have either been naturally deported without our involvement or have declined," he said.

Three in this lot have self-deported, one is pending in court, while nine are under review for possible self-deportation, Moylan said.

"Six are pending further progress. They have either requested to participate and we are waiting on them, or we are waiting on the court," he added.

He is seeking to collaborate with the federal agency “to effectively and efficiently deport as many criminal aliens

as possible," noting that repeat offenders often get released "only to reoffend and create more victims."

“We can inform your DHS ICE agents when these persons

may be at the courthouse and other information to arrest

them with little effort and maximum efficiency,” Moylan told Duenas.

Moylan said stepping up his office's deportation effort is consistent with President Donald Trump’s directive to rid the nation of undesirable aliens.

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