WASHINGTON COUNTY, ARKANSAS, Ark. — Tomomina Tonyokwe's world turned upside down on January 2nd, 2024, after her husband Randy Bolkiem, was detained by the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE).
"It was scary. And I was very nervous that they took him and I don't know where they're taking him to," Tomomina said.
Tomomina said she didn't know what was happening because immigration officials were not wearing uniforms.
"He was asking for me to give him my ID, so I gave him my ID and then he gave it back to me. And then he was like, 'Who is Randy?' And so I was telling him, 'He's my husband. Why?'" she recalled.
The officers asked where Randy was and asked Tomomina to get him. Tomomina said she didn't know what was going on, so she went to retrieve her husband. The officers asked what his name was and Randy responded.
"They just put the handcuffs on him and then just told me to give him his passport and a cell phone," Tomomina said.
According to the Marshallese Consulate, Randy is one of 21 local Marshallese men detained this past January by ICE in Northwest Arkansas.
Immigration officials eventually took her husband to a facility in Louisiana. Since he's been gone, Tomomina has been raising their four kids—three boys and one girl—alone while working full-time.
"It's hard for me to you know [be] by myself with everything you know, like pay our bills. We're not really happy at home that he is not here," Tomomina said.
According to ICE, in November of 2021, Randy was convicted of felony domestic battery. Sarah Moore Co-founder and Executive Director of the Arkansas Justice Reform Coalition said the men detained were on probation but were in full compliance with the court orders.
"All of the men that were in the January group that were taken were on active probation, which means they had a sentence that had been put on delay so that as long as they fulfill the obligations of the courts for any programs that were out laid, any fines or fees or restitution, and paying their supervision and staying in contact with a probation officer, they're safe to be in the community. They are safe to be back with their friends and their family," said Moore. "Randy, in particular, had had some court obligations that he had fulfilled, all of those necessary requirements had been with his family, had been providing for them had been, you know, working."
In January, the Washington County Sheriff's Office told 5NEWS they participate in a voluntary program called the State Criminal Alien Assistance Program (SCAAP).
"SCAAP has nothing to do with deporting anyone or finding [and] going out and doing a round up to find people that are illegal," Washington County Sheriff Jay Cantrell said. "It's only people that have come to jail and met that criteria in the grant reporting period."
According to Cantrell, SCAAP requires individuals to be non-U.S. citizens, convicted of two criminal misdemeanor crimes or a felony offense, and have to spend at least four consecutive days in jail.
The program is voluntary, but the sheriff's office receives money for its participation.
“This causes potentially extra detainment and extra cost in our community, which also we do know flags these individuals for a deeper review so that they have the possibility that they will be separated from their families. What's frustrating in Washington County and our region is that we voluntarily participate in federal programs that we don't have to, they are not mandatory, but we take it upon ourselves to say, let's provide additional information about these individuals so that we can make a little extra money," Moore said.
On Feb. 15, the Washington County Quroum Court approved to continue to participate in the federal SCAAP program.
In the meantime, the family has been working with the Fayetteville non-profit Arkansas Justice Reform Coalition. The family now has a lawyer and is still trying to gather paperwork to bring him home.
"It's kind of hard to find what they're needing because they need [things] from 20 years ago," Tomomina said.
Moore said the federal government had failed to formally enter Randy when he traveled to the U.S. from the Marshall Islands in the 80s.
"Whenever Randy had movement between the Marshall Islands and the U.S. back in the 80s until now, [they] had failed to formally enter him in and out of the country," Moore said. "And so when we look at his I-94 paperwork that shows his passport movements, there's a large chunk of time that he lives in the U.S. that he was employed, that he had a family, all of these U.S. citizen children, but because of the error our federal government had, and his entry and exit, he is having to prove that he actually was a part of this community, a part of the U.S."
Tomomina still wonders why her husband had been detained.
"I don't know what he was doing. He didn't do anything wrong," she said.
Although she may not be able to see her husband, she's still able to talk to him consistently while his family waits to be reunited again.
"He keeps telling me to be strong so that's what I am right now, trying to be strong," Tomomina said.
A statement from ICE's Public Affairs Officer Sarah Loicano on Randy's case:
Randy Bolkeim, 32, a citizen of the Marshall Islands, is currently in ICE custody at Winn Correctional Center, Winnfield, Louisiana following his arrest on Jan. 2, 2024. Bolkeim lawfully entered the United States on May 29, 2021. On Nov. 15, 2021, Bolkeim was convicted on a felony charge of second-degree domestic battery, in Washington County Circuit Court, Arkansas. Bolkeim departed the United States on May 26, 2023, and re-entered on June 12, 2023. ICE’s Enforcement and Removal Operations New Orleans field office determined Bolkeim was removable based on his conviction involving a crime involving moral turpitude. He is currently in ICE custody pending the outcome of his immigration proceedings with the Executive Office of Immigration Review.
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