Four months ago, Kauaʻi County Councilmember Fern Holland watched an immigration raid unfold across from her home. It was at 4 a.m., and when it was all over, 44 people — mostly Venezuelan nationals — were picked up.
So what happened to them? At the time, the Department of Homeland Security said two of the individuals arrested were suspected members of a crime organization known as Tren de Aragua.
The enforcement action back in November took place at a few locations, and Holland has made a point of tracking the fate of those arrested and detained. HPR spoke with Holland to get the latest updates.
Interview Highlights
On the detainees' current status
FERN HOLLAND: I did confirm that all of the people that were taken from Kauaʻi, all 44 Venezuelan and Colombians that were detained in those raids, did get back to Venezuela, and I believe they got back to Venezuela just a little bit before Christmas time. … We haven't heard any follow-ups from that brief statement that was given by DHS that, quite frankly, was pretty short and questionable, given the fact that, you know, I don't think they ever really came back out and clarified if those people were genuinely associated with any kind of gang activity. I think they were all found to not be, and just deported under regular process, because all of those workers that were detained were apparently received back in Venezuela, but that wasn't ever received from official federal communication; it was only received through community members.
On her research into the raid
HOLLAND: After finding out about what happened, I dove into the history about why Venezuelans particularly could have been taken and not the other workers. And what I realized is that this actually extends into this larger conversation on federal immigration rules, and particularly what happened when those Venezuelan statuses were revoked, basically. And so my understanding is that that's what a lot of those people may have been, is people that came in the only way that they were offered a pathway post-COVID, where everybody was kind of kept in camps before the border reopened. And then when the border reopened, they let in a bunch of Venezuelans who had kind of left their collapsing economy and then came to America and were given — a lot of them were given work visas, but then once the power changed in the federal government and the administration changed, they switched that and basically revoked all of their statuses. But my understanding was this was a larger investigation, and it's kind of concerning, because you would have thought that there would be more information shared about an investigation, but maybe that investigation is ongoing, and they're not ready to share anything about that. ... I don't know anything about the investigation, and so I'm in no place to say what the situation is.
On community concerns
HOLLAND: During the week, there was a lot of rumors. There was people not showing up for work. There were businesses closing because they didn't have staff members, or their staff members were afraid. … One business shut down because they thought that ICE agent-looking people were driving around in an SUV of some kind, and they thought that they were, like, taking pictures of them while they were setting up for work, and it created some sort of panic where everybody shut down. So, you know, we definitely saw that, but not since, not that I've heard since then. But there's definitely kind of an ongoing concern about when any of that activity might be, you know, happening again.
On accessing information
HOLLAND: Once my constituents are fearful, or once, you know, there's, you know, conversations or ICE raids happening across the street from my house, it's impossible to not want to be able to explain to our community what's going on. And so, you know, I feel like I have a responsibility to try to find out as much as I can and try to get answers. But I really, you know, outside of trying to be engaged in this conversation and to ask questions and to relate back or report back to the community on what I'm learning, that's about all I can really do.
If you are a Kauaʻi resident and have thoughts or concerns about immigration enforcement in your community, you can write to HPR at talkback@hawaiipublicradio.org.
This story aired on The Conversation on March 5, 2026. The Conversation airs weekdays at 11 a.m. Jinwook Lee adapted this interview for the web.
