Kandit reached out to the Office of the Lieutenant Governor of Guam last week to ask about possible ways to provide aid to Guam’s residents from the freely associated states of Micronesia. These residents often are referred to as COFA (Compacts of Free Association) immigrants.
Following Typhoon Mawar’s devastation of Guam, Federal Emergency Management Agency and U.S. Small Business Administration officials informed those seeking aid under their programs that U.S. citizenship is a qualifying requirement for the federal aid. Most COFA immigrants, who are heads of household, are believed to not be U.S. citizens.
A week after the typhoon, the Guam Legislature authorized Gov. Lou Leon Guerrero to expend $50 million in local funds on typhoon recovery and aid for residents. Those funds do not have the same federal restrictions against aid for non-U.S. citizens; thus, aid programs paid by these local funds can be open to COFA immigrants.
Kandit asked Lt. Gov. Joshua Tenorio’s chief advisor, Stephanie Flores, the following questions:
1. Will the governor or lieutenant governor consider using local funds via the $50 million appropriation, and set aside a portion of it, as relief aid for residents disqualified by FEMA for citizenship reasons?
2. What have the governor or lieutenant governor been doing to [help] change the federal government’s rules, or otherwise assist COFA residents who need relief aid with repairs to their homes, cars, and personal property?
Stephanie Flores
Ms. Flores responded:
The issue of whether COFA citizens were going to be able to participate in Federal Aid Relief Programs was of paramount concern to both the Governor and Lt. Governor from the outset. The eligibility of COFA citizens would necessarily factor into how we as a government would tailor our response measures to ensure that those that need help would get the help they need. This issue was immediately raised with FEMA and our other Federal Partners. Your questions were shared with the Governor and Lt. Governor and they outlined what steps they have taken specifically for the COFA citizenship issue as follows:
We met with FEMA and the FSM Consulate to determine the amount of people that may fall in this category and it is not clear how many households are not qualified.
That being said, the FSM Consulate is not getting a large number of inquiries or complaints from those that are not eligible. It looks like the vast majority of this population is eligible and does have a member of the household who is a US Citizen. More people have inquiries about how to appeal denials by FEMA as opposed to being ineligible. The Palauan Consulate isn’t getting many inquiries about FEMA ineligibility either.
Housing programs under HUD do not exclude COFA citizens. And we have been meeting with GHURA and HUD to prepare for servicing and assisting this population who could have unmet needs.
The American Red Cross does not exclude people from their cash assistance or humanitarian assistance based on citizenship. They do not ask citizenship questions.
The Rise Up program also does not exclude COFA citizens.
Disaster SNAP does not exclude COFA citizens.
Medicaid does not exclude COFA citizens and the Public Welfare team has gone to the shelters to enroll those eligible.
We do not exclude those populations either for food commodities.
Those not eligible for FEMA assistance are covered by other Federal agencies and non-profit organizations. They are being referred to those programs and they are being assisted. The appropriation authority of up to $50 million is being used for disaster response that benefits all the residents of Guam irrespective of their citizenship.
