Year-long Immigration Ordeal for Marshallese Man Ends Happily

Jimmy Mote is home for Christmas with his family in North Dakota. On Thursday, December 2, a Minnesota immigration judge told Mote that he was a free man. The Marshall Islands' man and his family now look forward to a cozy holiday together, unlike last year when Mote spent the season locked behind cold, cell walls. In December of 2003, Mote, upon seeking new state I.D., was arrested in North Dakota, detained, and eventually sent to Carver County Jail in Chaska, Minnesota for six months when Homeland Security questioned his immigration status and criminal record.

Mote had entered the United States legally under provisions Compact of Free Association between the United States and the Republic of the Marshall Islands. RMI Citizens can enter the US freely, with only a passport, and reside any duration of time as non-immigrants.

In July, he was released into a home-monitoring custody program, which required him to stay-put locally.

Mote found help and hope in a new friendship with the Bob Cress family of Minneapolis. Bob, a former Peace Corps volunteer to the Marshall Islands, and his wife, Margina, a Marshallese, eager to help Mote, broke the news of Mote's situation to the Marshalls' Embassy in Washington, D.C. and Yokwe Online.

At the first hearing in August, the judge did not terminate proceedings and set the next hearing for December.

While still in the home-custody program for the past five months, Mote has been living with the Cress Family. Mote was allowed a work permit by his supervisory office, but unable to secure work in the Minneapolis area. When Mote went to the hearing last Thursday, he had no assurance of the outcome.

Last Friday evening, Mote said he is so glad to be free again. He said he appreciated emails and gifts of support he received from Marshall Islanders in the States and abroad, who had read his story at this website.

When asked if he had any comment about his ordeal, Mote said only, "I want to thank Bob and Margina Cress and family for all their help."

--by Aenet Rowa, Yokwe Online, December 4, 2004