If United States immigration officials come knocking, Arkansas church leader Albious Latior has this advice for members of the Pacific diaspora.
"Don't say you're guilty," he said.
Under US President Donald Trump's deportation drive, the worst thing they can do is to self-incriminate, Mr Latior said.
Pacific Islanders living in the US fear sudden removal from loved ones, jobs and their adopted home, as Mr Trump pursues a crackdown against migrants who do not have valid visas or who have criminal records.
Pacific Island governments also say a wave of deportations threatens to overwhelm their under-resourced law enforcement authorities, which are already struggling to reintegrate criminals deported from the US.
Among those governments, Tonga has hopes to negotiate a reprieve with US officials.
Experts agree the Pacific isn't equipped to deal with the problem and say there's a need for more cooperation between the region's non-government organisations, community groups and churches to find ways to reintegrate larger numbers of deportees from the US.
US Immigration and Customs Enforcement data showed Fiji had the highest number of Pacific people marked for deportation with 353, followed by Tonga (151), Samoa (57) and the Marshall Islands (39).
'We are all shocked'
The deportation drive has put the Marshallese diaspora on edge as Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) officials sweep major cities after Mr Trump's promise to deport "millions and millions" of migrants.
There are reports ICE officials have carried out door-to-door searches in recent weeks in the Springdale area of Arkansas, where 15,000 Marshallese live.
Some fear their minor misdemeanours or lack of documents will see them deported to Marshall Islands and separated from loved ones.
Even Pacific Island citizens living in the US under its special immigration arrangements with Marshall Islands, Palau and the Federated States of Micronesia could be sent away if they have an expired passport or been convicted of crimes in the distant past, according to Mr Latior.
"That's why we are all kind of shocked right now," he said.
"Many of our family fear being deported. One of my family has already been taken from Arkansas to Louisiana, where the detention centre is.
"He lived here for 10 years."
Many Marshall Islands citizens move to the US under a special agreement letting them migrate without a visa in exchange for the US having military access to the Pacific nation's territories.
Mr Latior said he'd been helping the community understand how US law worked, "because some don't understand that even minor things can give them a criminal record".
Associate professor Jose Sousa Santos, convenor of the Pacific Regional Security Hub at the University of Canterbury in New Zealand, said Mr Trump's deportation policies were less targeted than those of former president Joe Biden.
"Even though Biden's deportation numbers were higher than Trump's in his first term, there were systems in place to respect asylum seekers and legitimate migrants," he said.
"With Pasifika people, criminals were being sent back, but we are now seeing the targeting of visa overstayers, which was not a priority under Biden."
Another key difference to the Biden administration, said Mr Sousa Santos, was that Mr Trump had granted new powers to ICE that allowed them to enter schools or churches and delegate arrest warrants to local police.
"These local law enforcement agencies do not have the training or understanding of the legislation to be arresting possible deportees," he said.
"The fear is once you've been arrested and taken into custody, you'll be in a gigantic immigration system which will roll you out faster, before legal assistance can be given to stop deportation."
Mr Sousa Santos said he expected an uptick in the number of Pacific deportees over the next four years.
Some deportees convicted of serious crimes
In the Pacific Islands, the threat of mass deportations has stoked fear for different reasons.
While many migrants fearing deportation have committed minor offences, Pacific Island nations are already dealing with an influx of deportees convicted of serious crimes.
And they say they're not equipped to reintegrate more if the number of incoming deported criminals grows under Mr Trump's immigration crackdown.
A former government official in the Marshall Islands, who did not want to be named, told the ABC the country had already struggled to absorb deportees before Mr Trump's reforms and was in no position to accept more.
"Some of these people have committed minor crimes which aren't such a big deal, but you're also getting rapists and other people," they said.
ICE reports show 67 Marshallese were deported in 2024 during the Biden administration — an all-time high.
In the past four years, deportees to Marshall Islands from the US have been convicted of a murder, a knife assault, and a rape upon their return, prompting the government to establish a Deportation Task Force to address concerns around deportees from the US.
"A lot of these people have grown up their entire lives in the US and have adopted the bad influences of Western culture, and we will be getting more," the former official said.
[YouTube deportees]Deportations 'a strain on the whole society'
In Tonga, Police Minister Piveni Piukala said another influx of deportees would further strain law enforcement agencies already struggling to reintegrate criminals deported from the US, Australia and New Zealand.
"No police force in the Pacific in their current states are resourced enough. None. But we won't turn a blind eye," Mr Piukala said.
"These people are a product of their system. To chuck the product onto us without any assistance should be considered an injustice on our society."
Tonga is set to receive 151 deportees, according to the order of removal list published by US Immigration and Customs Enforcement.
The list does not specify how many of those people have been convicted of a crime, however, Tongan Police Commissioner Shane McLennan said about 50 per cent of all deportees Tonga received had criminal records.
In a country of about 107,000 people, a sudden influx of even 20 criminals had the potential to overwhelm the country's under-resourced immigration and law enforcement agencies, according to Danielle Watson, an associate professor with the Queensland University of Technology's School of Justice.
"Tonga doesn't have legal frameworks in place to monitor deportees with criminal records," she said.
"There's no required mandatory re-entry or re-orientation programs for these countries, so it's more than just the police who are affected. It's a strain on the whole society."
As a result, many ended up re-offending and being taken to overcrowded prisons, Dr Watson said.
Tonga's police minister, Mr Piukala, said he would meet US embassy officials in hopes of striking a deal to prevent the country being saddled with the deportees all at once.
"I would say all Pacific Islands should negotiate with partners like the US or China to try and cater for this great challenge," he said.
Dr Watson said for Pacific countries to absorb the increased number of US deportees successfully, there needed to be more engagement between governments and community groups.
"If you look at the agencies at the forefront of re-integration, it's not state agencies — it's NGOs, community groups and religious groups," she said.
Back in Arkansas, Mr Latior said Marshallese people had been flocking to the Marshall Islands consulate in droves since Mr Trump's inauguration to get their paperwork in order.
Many had outstanding warrants and had been referred to Mr Latior's office.
"We don't know what Trump will do next, so we just want to stay out of trouble," he said.
"A lot of people are scared their loved ones might be picked up next."
