Overview:
Angaur’s traditional chiefs have reaffirmed their support for U.S. military activities and offered to host asylum seekers in Palau, emphasizing their island’s long-standing partnership with foreign communities and development projects.
By: L.N. Reklai
Angaur Chief Adelbai ra Tmiu Jackson Henry says that Angaur chiefs are united in their desire to have Angaur State host the United States’ asylum seekers, as requested in their letter to the US Ambassador to Palau Joel Ehrendreich on July 24, 2025, and in their resolution No. 2025-003 adopted on the same date.
The United States has requested that Palau take in 75 individuals who entered and worked in the United States without proper legal documentation and are being removed by the United States government. According to a statement from President Surangel Whipps at the press conference on October 15th, these people are not criminals, even though they entered and worked illegally in the United States; they had filed for asylum in the US, citing safety concerns if sent back to their own country.
Adelbai ra Tmiu Jackson Henry said that Angaur needed a nurse, a doctor, diesel mechanics and carpenters and that there were already 120 non-Angaurians working on the TACMOR project.
“Angaur’s history of association with USA military presence, Germany phosphate mining and Japanese makes the inhabitants comfortable living with skilled foreigners,” added Adelbai ra Tmiu.
Adelbai ra Tmiu Henry denies the statements that the Angaur people are against the TACMOR project in Angaur based on the lawsuit that was filed by the previous Governor Steven Salii against the Palau Government, the US Government and the US military contractors over the TACMOR project in Angaur.
The chief asserts that Angaur chiefs supported the TACMOR and US military presence in Angaur and that the former governor did not have the chiefs’ support on the case. “Our resolution supporting TACMOR and USA military presence on Angaur was transmitted to the US Ambassador,” said Adelbai ra Tmiu Jackson Henry.