Research Note Researched

Guam — ICE detention overview (2025-2026): low-volume territory, COFA/Chuukese removal focus, AG-ICE 287(g) deputization

Guam (FIPS 66010) is a U.S. territory in Micronesia and was a coverage gap in this KB. The finding is that Guam has real but low-volume ICE detention activity, structured very differently from the mainland. There is no dedicated ICE processing center; the single ICE-used facility is the Guam DOC Hagåtña Detention Facility (see facility entry), with a 2026 immigration average daily population of about 15. The defining feature of Guam enforcement is its entanglement with Compact of Free Association (COFA) migrants — and a local Attorney General who has actively pulled the territory into the federal deportation apparatus.

The COFA Context (why Guam is different)

Under the Compacts of Free Association, citizens of the Federated States of Micronesia (FSM, including Chuuk), the Republic of the Marshall Islands, and Palau can live, work, and study in the U.S. and its territories without visas and are generally not subject to ordinary removal the way other noncitizens are. Many COFA migrants in Guam work in construction, tourism, and military-related sectors.

But COFA status does not shield someone convicted of a deportable/aggravated felony. The enforcement story in Guam is therefore overwhelmingly a criminal-removal story aimed at COFA migrants — especially Chuukese / FSM nationals, whom local officials describe as overrepresented in Guam’s criminal-justice system. This is the opposite of the mainland “sidewalk sweep” pattern; do not assume mainland dynamics here.

Key Numbers

101 convicted noncitizens deported from Guam since 2023, with ~12 more pending (per AG Moylan, Aug 2025)
Hagåtña ICE average daily population (2026): ~15; average stay ~36 days
~20 federal detainees removed from Hagåtña amid the Dec 2025–Jan 2026 conditions crisis
11 Guam AG investigators deputized under ICE 287(g) (certified Jan 2026)
AG claims the deportation program will save Guam ~$4 million/year (≈$43,070 per incarcerated noncitizen annually)

Enforcement Architecture

HSI Honolulu + ERO + USMS: federal immigration operations in Guam are run out of Homeland Security Investigations in Honolulu, with Enforcement and Removal Operations and U.S. Marshals deputies. A notable operation occurred January 31, 2025, targeting immigrants with outstanding criminal warrants.
ICE Field Office: San Francisco AOR covers Guam.
Removal pathway: detention at Hagåtña, then removal typically routed through Honolulu.

Guam AG’s 287(g) Deputization (2025-2026)

Guam Attorney General Douglas Moylan signed a memorandum of agreement with DHS (signed ~Sept 2025, certified January 2026) deputizing 11 of his office’s criminal investigators under ICE’s 287(g) program. The deputized investigators can identify, detain, and remove convicted deportable noncitizens, interrogate suspected noncitizens, and execute immigration warrants — under ICE supervision. Moylan framed it as ending a “catch, release, re-offend cycle.”

This builds on Moylan’s earlier “Deport Air” initiative (since 2023): early release of convicted foreigners with ICE detainers, voluntary departure via stipulated amended judgments, and a 2024 billboard campaign featuring the mugshots of 40 convicted noncitigens (“Deport Air 40”). Moylan has stated the goal is to “get rid of this segment of criminals in villages,” and his office specifically targets FSM citizens citing higher crime rates.

Civil-Rights Counterweight

The Guam Advisory Committee to the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights spent 2024–2025 holding a six-panel briefing series (final panel Dec 16, 2025) on the overrepresentation of COFA migrants in Guam’s criminal-justice system — examining whether discrimination by race, national origin, disability, etc. drives that overrepresentation, and flagging deportability for aggravated felonies as a substantial factor. Immigration advocates have also warned (re the Jan 2025 raids) that people with legal status or even citizenship could be swept up.

Conditions

The Hagåtña facility entered a documented crisis in late 2025: broken HVAC, overcrowding, and detainees housed in dome tents, described by lawmakers and the AG as “inhumane and dangerous.” The withdrawal of ~20 federal detainees and warnings of lost revenue and possible federal court intervention underscore that the territory’s only ICE-capable facility is under strain.

Gaps / Caveats

No public Guam-specific ICE arrest count for 2026 (only the AG’s cumulative 101-since-2023 deportation figure).
COFA migrants are NOT ordinary removable noncitizens — Guam enforcement is criminal-conviction-driven; mainland sweep assumptions do not apply.
The Northern Mariana Islands (CNMI) is a separate adjacent territory also named in ICE’s Feb 2026 detention footprint; not covered in this entry.

Sources

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