This Marshallese-language summary highlights an October 25 investigation by ProPublica and The New York Times Magazine into immigration enforcement in Ingram, Texas, a small town of approximately 1,900 residents.

The investigation follows police officer Jaron Alexander and examines how the town’s participation in ICE’s 287(g) program turned routine traffic stops into opportunities for immigration detention. Reporters documented how enforcement affected workers, families and local businesses, including efforts to rebuild after devastating floods.

Although Ingram has no significant Marshallese or Micronesian population, its experience illustrates how partnerships between local police and ICE can affect entire communities, including those in Northwest Arkansas.

Read the original investigation: https://www.propublica.org/article/deportations-ingram-texas-287g-jaron-alexander

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Ilo Ingram, Texas, immigration enforcement eo eaar kabōjrak ri-jerbal ro rej jipañ Hill County ilo jorrāān eo eaar waḷọk jān ibwijleplep eo.

Juon etale eo jān ProPublica im The New York Times Magazine ilo kar October 25 raan eo ej kwaḷọk aer etale Officer Jaron Alexander, eo eaar erom juon eo armej ro ilo jukjukin pād in rej kile ke ej kōṃṃani jerbal ko an immigration enforcement eo ilo jikin jidikdik in im ewōr tarrin in 1,900 armej ie, iturin Guadalupe River. Enañin 45 percent in armej ro ijin rej Latino.

Ro rej leto letak nuuj im meḷeḷe ko rej ba bwe Francesca D’Annunzio im McKenzie Funk raar kōnono ippān elōñḷọk jān 100 armej ilo Texas im Mexico iloan allōñ ko jiljilimjuon, im etale taujin ripoot im pepa ko an kien eo ko rej peḷḷọk ñan armej. Etale eo ej kwaḷọk wāween an kar traffic stop ko an policemen ro ilo jukjukin pād in oktak ñan juōn ial ñan an ICE kalbuuj armej, ālikin an Ingram kar kobaḷọk ilo program eo an ICE etan 287(g) task force ilo October 2025.

Program in ej leḷọk maroñ ñan policeman ro ilo jukjukin pād ko bwe ren maroñ kōṃṃan jet jerbal ko an immigration enforcement eo. Ej barāinwōt leḷọk jāān ko jen Kien eo an federal ñan ebbōk kein jerbal, wia wa ko, im jāān ñan kōḷḷāik policemen ro. Rekoot ko an city eo raar kwaḷọk ke Alexander eaar bōk enañin tarrin in $18,800 jān jerbal ko an ICE iloan allōñ ko ruatimjuon, ilo an bar bōk wōnāān jān jerbal eo an āinwōt juōn policeman.

Ñan August 2026 eo, police chief eo an Ingram ear kwaḷọk bwe ewōr 194 keej ko rej ekkejel ḷọk ilo jerbal ko an  “immigration,”menin ej aorōkin aolepān jerbal ko an department eo, ejjab koba jerbal ko an Alexander make. Police chief eo eaar jab maroñ kwaḷọk eḷaññe aolep armej ro raar leḷọk er ñan ICE rar kōrool er ñan laḷ ko aer.

Ñan ri-jerbal ro im baaṃle ko, kaje kein rejelet mour ko aer ilo kajjojo raan. Jet ri-jerbal ro rej etal ñan jikin jerbal ko ilo Junction Highway eo raar jino kōjerbal juōn iaḷ eo aetok im ej 55 mile, eo kiiō eaetokḷọk 90 minit in aer ettōr ilo kajjojo raan. Jet ri-jerbal ro ilo ranch ko raar kiki wōt ilo ṃōko ṃōn boss ro aer bwe ren jab aikuj ettōr iloan town in.

Jorrāān kein raar barāinwōt jelōt juōn factory in kōṃṃan kanniek ilo bukwōn eo ilo Ingram. Juōn jerbal in etale eo eaar kwaḷọk bwe ruo ri-jerbal raar jibwe er im kalbuuj er ke raar ettōr ñan jikin jerbal im policemen ro raar leḷọk er ñan ICE ro. Ālikin jidik ien, aolep emmaan ro jet raar joḷọk aer jerbal. Kalbuuj kein raar waḷọk ilo ien aer etal ñan jikin jerbal; etale eo ejjab kaṃool ke ri-jerbal ro an kien raar delọñ ilo factory eo ak eḷaññe jerbal eaar bōjrak.

Ilo jikin ekkal ko, an jako ri-jerbal ro eaar barāinwōt jelet  aer jerbale jorrāān ko raar waḷọk jān ibwijleplep eo.

Juon ri-kal eo eaar kalōk post office eo ilo Hunt, eo eaar jorrāān, eaar lo an iiet ḷọk ri-jerbal ro an jān 30 ñan 8 wōt. Menin ekōṃṃan bwe juōn jerbal eo en kar ṃōj ilo emān (4) raan eaar oktak im bōk ruo wiik. Ruo ri-jerbal ro rar jipañ kalōk juōn mall, kar bar kalbuuji er. Police chief eo eaar barāinwōt kwaḷọk ke juon ri-tōl eo ej bōk eddo in jerbal in ekkal eo ilo jikin ikkure in ākiu (baseball) an ajri ro ilo Ingram, eo eaar jorrāān jān ibwijleplep eo, eaar kōṃṃane juon an abṇōṇō ālikin an policemen ro kalbuuji ruo an ri-jerbal.

Business eo an baaṃle eo an Neal Secor, Waltonia on the River, eaar lukkuun jorrāān ilo ibwijleplep eo. Ear ba ḷọk ñan jikin kōṃṃan nuuj eo ke policemen ro an Ingram raar kalbuuj emān iaan ri-jerbal ro an ilo ruo traffic stop ko ilo spring eo, im leḷọk er ñan ICE. Bar ruo raar jepḷak jān aer kar kōṃṃan jerbal ilo jikin paak wa ko an juon jikin camp eo epaak an jodikdik. Rein raar jerbal ippān Secor elōñḷọk jān 10 iiō.

Secor eaar kwaḷọk ke E ej juon eo eḷap an tiljek ilo kōjparok kien. Ke eaar kwaḷọk an abṇōṇō ñan mayor eo, eaar kememej ke raar ba ñane ke er raar bout ikijjien menin.

“Iaar jab bout i menin,” Secor eaar ba. “Iaar bout bwe ren kōṃakūt armej nana ro.”

Jorrāān ko raar ḷap aer jelōt bar business ko. Norma Luján, juon owner in business in karreo em, eaar lo an iiet ḷọk ri-jerbal ro an jān 30 ñan 10. Jet raar kalbuuj, ak enañin aolep raar mijak in ettōr ilo bukwōn in Ingram. Ilo restaurant eo etan Los Altos de Jalisco, aorōkin order in ṃōñā ko raar dikḷọk jān 200 ñan 50 ilo kajjojo raan.

Alexander eaar ba bwe kōjipel ḷọk baaṃle ko kajojo jān doon ej juon men eo eḷap an kōṃṃan an inepata. Ak eaar wōnṃaanḷọk wōt im bōk kuṇaan ilo jerbal ko an immigration enforcement eo.

Jerbal in etale ko rej kwaḷọk bwe kalimur ko leḷọk ñan ro rej kōrool er rejjab jejjet āinwōt kar kalimur: ilo aer kōṃakut ri-jerbal ro rej barāinwōt kōṃakut jeḷā eo, jemjerā ko, im jerbal ko jukjukin pād ko rej atartar ioon ñan aer maroñ mour, lale baaṃle ko aer, im kalōk bar jikin ko ālikin jorrāān ko reḷap.

Jekdoon ñe ejjeḷọk juon jukjukin pād in Ri-Majōḷ ak Ri-Micronesia ilo Ingram, juōn enaan ej kwaḷọk wāween an 287(g) partnership ilo jukjukin pād eo ukot mour ilo juon jikin jidikdik. Kabōjrak ko ilo traffic stop ko raar oktak ñan juon iaḷ ñan an ICE kalbuuj armej ro, im kōṃṃan an ri-jerbal ro jako jān baaṃle ko aer im jikin jerbal ko aer, im ilo an mijak bōk jikin im kōṃṃan an ro jet eṃṃakūt ak jab bar kepaak town eo. Jekdoon ia eo ri-jerbal rein raar itok jene, aer jako ejelōt jikin jerbal, business, im jemjerā ko rej dāpij juon jukjukin pād ippān doon.

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How 287(g) Changed a Small Texas Town

In Ingram, Texas, immigration enforcement disrupted the workforce helping the Hill Country recover from devastating floods.

An October 25 investigation by ProPublica and The New York Times Magazine follows Officer Jaron Alexander, who became the local face of immigration enforcement in this town of about 1,900 people beside the Guadalupe River. Approximately 45% of Ingram’s population was Latino.

Reporters Francesca D’Annunzio and McKenzie Funk spoke with more than 100 people in Texas and Mexico over seven months and reviewed thousands of pages of public records. Their investigation traces how local traffic stops became a route into ICE custody after Ingram joined the agency’s 287(g) task force program in October 2025.

The program deputizes local police to perform certain immigration-enforcement duties. It also offers federal funding for equipment, vehicles and officer pay. City records showed Alexander received nearly $18,800 for ICE work over nine months, in addition to his regular salary.

By August 2026, Ingram’s police chief reported 194 “immigration-related incidents.” That was a department-wide figure, not Alexander’s individual total. The chief could not say whether every handover to ICE resulted in deportation.

For workers and families, the consequences changed everyday routines. Some workers traveling to jobs along Junction Highway began taking a 55-mile detour, adding about 90 minutes to their daily travel. Some ranch hands slept at their employers’ properties to avoid driving through town.

The disruption reached an Ingram meat-processing plant. The investigation reported that two employees were detained while driving to work and handed over to ICE. All the other male workers quit shortly afterward. These arrests occurred during the commute; the account does not establish that agents entered the plant or that production stopped.

At construction sites, losing workers also made flood recovery more difficult.

A contractor rebuilding Hunt’s destroyed post office saw his crew shrink from 30 workers to eight, stretching an anticipated four-day job into two weeks. Two workers helping rebuild a damaged strip mall were detained. The police chief also described a complaint from a manager rebuilding Ingram’s washed-out Little League field after two workers were picked up.

Neal Secor’s family business, Waltonia on the River, was nearly destroyed by flooding. He told reporters that Ingram police detained four of his workers during two separate stops that spring and handed them over to ICE. Two were returning from repairing docks at a nearby youth camp. They had worked alongside him for more than a decade.

Secor described himself as deeply conservative. When he complained to the mayor, he recalled being told that they had voted for this.

“I didn’t vote for this,” Secor said. “I voted to get the bad guys out.”

The effects spread beyond reconstruction. Housecleaning business owner Norma Luján saw her crew fall from 30 people to fewer than 10—some detained, most afraid to drive through Ingram. At Los Altos de Jalisco, daily takeout orders dropped from about 200 to 50.

Alexander told reporters that separating families troubled him. Nevertheless, he continued participating in immigration enforcement.

The investigation documents a cost that deportation promises rarely acknowledge: removing workers also removes the skills, relationships and labor that communities depend on to earn a living, care for families and rebuild after disaster.

Even though Ingram doesn’t have a Marshallese or Micronesian population, this new story shows how a local 287(g) partnership can reshape a small town. Traffic stops became a route into ICE custody, removing workers from their families and jobs while fear pushed others to leave or avoid town. Wherever these workers are from, their absence affects the workplaces, businesses and relationships that hold a community together.

Read the investigation:
https://www.propublica.org/article/deportations-ingram-texas-287g-jaron-alexander