Anjanette Anjel was appointed Consul General last summer, officially taking office in September. For now, the position is interim, she said.
"So far I've met with a lot of people and I enjoyed working with the people here. So if my government do decide for me to be permanent here, I'll gladly take on the offer."
Anjel, a Marshallese native, holds a degree in Global Politics and Economics from Tamkang University, Taiwan. She's an experienced diplomat serving in the Republic of the Marshall Islands Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade for four years and later as Deputy Chief of Mission in the RMI Embassy in Taiwan for six years.
Marshallese citizens are free to travel and work in the U.S. under a special agreement requiring only a current passport and I-94 arrival record. Anjel assists newcomers, as well as current residents, with their unique legal immigrant status, travel paperwork, emergencies, as well as communications with officials in the Republic of the Marshall Islands.
"We also serve our people in other states," she said. "We have a RMI Embassy in Washington DC, and a RMI Consulate in Hawaii, so we share the work together. Whoever calls this office, we help them."
Assisted by her Vice Consul and Outreach Coordinator, Anjel initially met with local Marshallese community and church leaders in Northwest Arkansas, as well as Marshallese non-governmental aid organizations, notably the Marshallese Educational Initiative and Arkansas Coalition of Marshallese — which she said provide an invaluable service to Marshallese immigrants.
"Since my arrival in August, I've been meeting with friends and partners of the consulate which also includes local governments and authorities, and educational institutions as well. My efforts have been focused on strengthening our partnership and building new connections to better serve our community."
Anjel said as many as 15,000 Marshallese immigrants live in Arkansas, but their numbers have always been fluid.
"There is a lot of people who still come into Arkansas and people who move out of Arkansas," she said.
Anjel is replacing Consul General Eldon Alik, who, after five years of service, vacated the position more than a year ago to spend time with family. Alik is lauded for guiding the Marshallese community through the COVID-19 Pandemic, staging numerous free vaccination clinics staffed by Arkansas Department of Health, as well as providing critical relief aid to islanders during lock-down.
The very first Marshallese Consul General in Arkansas was Carmen Samuel Chong Gum, appointed in 2008, who served until 2017. She assisted the first significant influx of Marshallese immigrants to the Ozarks seeking employment, education, housing and critically needed health care. Chong Gum also engaged in cultural diplomacy, revealing to local and federal politicians, health care providers, educators and the public the long-term consequences of U.S. Cold War nuclear testing on the Marshall Islands that continue to affect generations of Marshallese to this day.
Counsel General Anjanette Anjel said her mission is focused on reaching as many Marshallese migrants as she can, instructed to expand the consulate's outreach by Charles Paul, Republic of the Marshall Islands Ambassador to the United States, headquartered in Washington, DC. Since taking office, she's been busy hosting forums in communities where islanders are concentrated across the state and beyond.
"So far we've visited several cities outside of Springdale," she said. "We visited Huntsville and Pocahontas where Marshallese communities from neighboring communities, including Green Forest, Berryville, Paragould and Batesville, also joined. We've also extended our outreach efforts to out of state, Texas being the first that we visited. Our goal is to reach all the Marshallese communities in the United States."
The response so far, she says, has been encouraging.
"Oh my goodness, they've been very grateful for the opportunity to listen to us and also voice their concerns and questions, not just to this office but to our government," she said. "Especially these smaller communities, they're really grateful for this because although they're small, they said we still took the time to go and visit them. So far, it's been very positive and I'm really happy that these people appreciate this effort we're trying to do."
Anjel is also fielding questions from islanders about the third renewal and expansion of a 1986 Compact of Free Association, COFA for short, a treaty between the Republic of the Marshall Islands and the U.S. which continues to maintain an exclusive strategic intercontinental ballistic missile test range on Kwajalein Atoll in the Marshalls.
In exchange, Marshallese citizens under the Compact are designated non-immigrants, allowed to live and work in the U.S. visa-free for as long as they want. COFA migrants were initially eligible for Medicaid and other safety net programs, but those entitlements were cut in 1996. Only Medicaid was later reinstated by Congress in 2021.
Then, in 2023, along with reauthorizing $2.3 billion over 20 years in Compact economic assistance to the Republic of the Marshall Islands, Congress also approved the Compact Impact Fairness Act under the Consolidated Appropriations Act of 2024. Signed into law by President Joe Biden last March, the legislation, sponsored by U.S. Senator Mazie Hirono - HI and cosponsored by U.S. Senator John Boozman - AR, further expands access to federal benefits to COFA migrants, including Childhood Health Insurance, Supplemental Nutrition Assistance, Temporary Assistance for Needy Families, and FEMA emergency assistance.
"While these new provisions to restore federal benefits eligibility for COFA citizens in the United States have passed at the federal level," Anjel said, "we are currently facing significant delays in their implementation at the state level. Our outreach team not only educates our people on these federal programs but we partner with NGO's and service providers in each community to help our people to gain access to these programs. And at the same time, we also meet with local and state officials to ensure that they are fully aware of these agreements between the Marshall Islands and the United States. The idea is to expedite the process by encouraging local leaders to push these forward and within their respective jurisdictions."
As we've reported previously, Hawaii has long been the only U.S. state to receive millions of dollars in special Compact Impact funding, first appropriated in 2004 to defray that state's health, education and welfare costs for thousands of Marshallese COFA migrants in that state.
Yet, Arkansas — which counts far more Marshallese migrants — has yet to receive Compact Impact aid, lacking an accurate official census enumeration.
The new Compact Impact Fairness Act aims to level that playing field, eliminating Compact Impact Funding and providing critical financial support to more states with established and growing islander populations, including Arkansas, Missouri, and Oklahoma.
"The newly renegotiated Compact benefits the Marshallese here in Arkansas," Anjel said, "and I just wanted to make mention that we are deeply grateful for the leadership shown by officials in Arkansas."
The Compact Impact Fairness Act also establishes a repurposed Trust Fund to meet the extraordinary needs of Marshallese communities in the Republic of the Marshall Islands that continue to suffer the long-term impacts of the U.S. Military detonating 67 atmospheric atomic and thermonuclear weapons tests on the Marshalls during the Cold War.
To date, only $600 million in compensation has been provided by the United States. The RMI claims more than $3 billion in uncompensated damages, according to the Congressional Research Service.
The renewed Compact Trust Fund delivers $700 million more dollars, which Marshallese advocates said is still vastly inadequate.
Marshall islanders are also among the world's first climate catastrophe refugees, their low-lying Pacific Ocean archipelago increasingly inundated by rising tidal surges.
"It is beyond my station [to comment]," Anjel said about climate threat policy discussions, "but I've seen it and witnessed it firsthand. So yes, climate change is real and it's really affecting our people especially with inundation as you mention."
For example, Kili Island, where Marshallese U.S. nuclear weapons test site residents were first relocated, she said, is dealing with repeated ocean flooding. And warming seas, she said also threaten critical marine resources, on which Marshall islanders have subsisted for centuries.
According to RMI census records, the country's population in 2021 was 54,500, dropping to around 53,000 in 2011. The 2021 census shows further decline: 42,000 islanders. Which raises the question: are more Marshallese expected to legally move to the United States, seeking economic opportunity as well as refuge from global climate threats?
"It's harder to live in the Marshall Islands now," Anjel said in response. "And one of the reasons is climate change. But our people refuse to give up our country and our islands, for climate change. It's one thing to move away from your country voluntarily and another to lose it from the damages that are being done around the world."
Today, a growing population of Marshallese migrants, as well as Marshallese Americans born in the U.S., call Arkansas home. Yet, most Arkansans know little about their history, culture — or devastating nuclear legacy.
"You're one of the reason why people come to know about the Marshall Islands," Anjel said, referring to KUAF Public Radio. "And I really thank you for that, for doing your stories on the Marshall Islands."
"We Marshallese people are very loving, as you can see, and you've witnessed when you encounter [and report about] our Marshallese people. This culture of us knowing how to look after each other? That probably contributes to why Marshallese people are here in Arkansas."
To learn more about the history and culture of Ozarks Marshallese visit the nonprofit Marshallese Educational Initiative as well as Ozarks ri-Majel, KUAF's new Listening Lab series. You can follow the RMI Consulate in Arkansas on Facebook.
