President Donald Trump’s immigration enforcement efforts extended to Guam on Friday, seeing immigrants with outstanding criminal warrants detained.
Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) in Honolulu, Hawaii, said its officers had traveled to the island, around 3,900 miles to the west, to carry out the operation.
Newsweek reached out to Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) and the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) via email for comment on Monday morning.
Why It Matters
The first two weeks of the Trump administration have seen a marked increase in efforts to carry out immigration enforcement and to share those details with the public. The president promised the mass deportation of millions of illegal immigrants who had committed crimes—a policy that has seen widespread support from voters.
A New York Times/Ipsos poll carried out from January 2 to 10 found 55 percent of voters strongly or somewhat supported deportations. Eighty-eight percent supported “Deporting immigrants who are here illegally and have criminal records.” Large majorities of both Democrats and Republicans agreed that the immigration system is broken.
What To Know
The operation in Guam was carried out by officers from HSI, Enforcement and Removal Operations (ERO), and the United States Marshals Service deputies on January 31. A photo shared by HSI Honolulu showed officers appearing to apprehend immigrants in an alleyway, with some individuals sitting on the ground.
The post on X, formerly Twitter, reflected similar recent messages across the U.S. as the DHS carried out raids and targeted operations.
Arrests and immigration detainers issued to local law enforcement holding known illegal immigrants have risen under the new administration. However, daily activity was not regularly published under the Biden administration, and some experts have said that the numbers are not necessarily that different. Before a handful of posts in the past week, the HSI Honolulu X account had been dormant since July 2024.
Guam is somewhat unique in its status as a U.S. territory, as it forms part of Micronesia in Oceania rather than being part of the Americas. Special arrangements made under the Compacts of Free Association (COFA) allow residents from other nearby islands to live and work in Guam without visas, with many working in construction, tourism, and military-related work.
What People Are Saying
Secretary of Homeland Security Kristi Noem, on Fox News: “Americans overwhelmingly want criminal illegal aliens off our streets. They want these dirtbags out of our country. The fact that Biden didn’t remove these criminals shows that he wasn’t putting America first.”
What Happens Next
Immigration enforcement will continue to be a focus of the Trump administration in the coming days and weeks, which it says will focus on known criminals. Immigration advocates have already launched legal action against some of these policies and have warned that those with legal status, or even citizenship, could be caught up in raids.
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