Marshallese Americans

In 1986, the Marshall Islands and the United States established an agreement called the Compact of Free Association, according to which the archipelago attained its full sovereignty. The treaty allows United States to provide defense, "social services and other benefits to the Marshall Islands" in exchange for military bases on the islands. Under this treaty, Marshall Islanders can also travel and work in United States without having visas, although they must be legal permanent residents and go through the same naturalization process equal to that of all other nationalities. Many Marshallese emigrate to the United States to give their children an education, while other Marshallese seek better working conditions or a better health system than the one found in their country. Adoptions were further driven by unethical trafficking schemes for which some perpetrators are facing prosecution. == Demography ==

and Costa Mesa (California). According to Karen Morrison, director of Spokane's Odyssey World International, a nonprofit that provides services for immigrants, Spokane County is home of a community of 2,400 or 3,000 people of Marshallese origin. In 2006 Spokane-area schools had a lot of Marshallese students, so that "Spokane Public Schools has 370 students whose primary language is Marshallese"; these students form the second group, more numerous than the Spanish-speaking students (360 people) and following the Russian-speaking students (530 people) in these schools (in reference to non-English languages). Several Marshallese immigrants coming to attend a seminary program in Dubuque, Iowa in the 1970s were the start of the city's Marshallese population. Circa 2024, the number of ethnic Marshallese in the Dubuque area numbered about 1,400. The houses of the Marshallese of the USA house several generations of the same family Many Marshallese are Baptist. The Marshallese Bible study group at Cross Church, a Baptist congregation in Springdale, has grown quickly in recent years, although the service is done mostly in English, since the church lacks ministers who speak fluent Marshallese. Children born in the United States to Marshallese families have dual citizenship. ==Notable people==

• Anju Jason, taekwondo practitioner • Todd Lyght, American football player • Haley Nemra, middle-distance runner • Kathy Jetn̄il-Kijiner, poet and climate change activist == United States Nuclear Testing ==

During the first 10 years of the Cold War, the United States detonated nearly seventy nuclear bombs in the Marshall Islands. The radiation from these bombs were covered by a concrete dome, Runit Dome, to protect the community from nuclear waste. Since being built, the interior of the dome has been leaking which has raised concerns for Marshallese locals. The effects of the nuclear testing resulted in destruction of entire islands, birth defects, and health problems of local residents, including cancer. Until recently, (2022), the United States has not offered services or apologies to the Marshallese community and has not aided in their recovery since 1986 when the first compact required the U.S. to place $150 million into a trust fund for nuclear-related claims. Kathy Jetn̄il-Kijiner has written many poems to highlight this mistreatment of the Marshallese community. They filmed Rise, standing on Runit Dome and speaking about their community's struggles. ==See also==