{"database": "press", "table": "releases", "rows": [["https://case.house.gov/news/documentsingle.aspx?DocumentID=4953", "Case, Moylan Introduce Measure To Counter Transnational Crime In The Indo-Pacific", "2026-07-08", "2026", "2026-07", "Democrat", "House", "HI", "Ed Case", "C001055", "case.house.gov", "case", "https://case.house.gov/news/documentquery.aspx?DocumentTypeID=27&Page=1", "scraper", "(Washington, DC) -- U.S. Congressmen Ed Case (D-HI-01) and James Moylan (R-Guam) have introduced a measure in the U.S. House to boost U.S. efforts to counter growing transnational crime in the Indo-Pacific.\n\n\u201cOur Pacific Islands Liaison Initiative Act addresses the growing use of Pacific Island nations as transit hubs for cross-Pacific illegal drug trade by transnational criminal networks, particularly narcotics traffickers,\u201d said Case, a founder and Co-Chair of the House Pacific Islands Caucus, a bipartisan Member group focused on the Pacific (https://pacificislandscaucus-case.house.gov).\n\n\u201cOur fellow Pacific Island nations which are being victimized as stop-offs in this Pacific drug highway are now suffering from related domestic crisis including addiction broader public health, such as an HIV epidemic in Fiji primary spread by unsafe injecting practices,\u201d said Case. \u201cOur Pacific \u2018ohana (family) have clearly prioritized this crisis and asked for our continued partnership in both reducing the trade to start with and addressing its consequences.\u201d\n\n\u201cGuam sits at the crossroads of the Indo-Pacific, and we understand better than most that transnational crime does not stop at borders,\u201d said Moylan. \u201cStrengthening law enforcement partnerships throughout the Pacific protects our communities, reinforces our alliances, and advances America\u2019s strategic interests in the region. The Pacific Islands Liaison Initiative is a smart investment in regional security, and I\u2019m proud to support efforts that ensure Guam continues to play a leading role in keeping the Indo-Pacific safe, secure, and resilient.\u201d\n\nCase and Moylan noted that while much attention has focused on precursor chemicals moving eastward across the Pacific to illicit drug producers in the Western Hemisphere, a lesser-known trafficking route moves cocaine and methamphetamine westward from the Americas through Oceania to Australia and New Zealand, where significantly higher street prices generate enormous profits for criminal organizations.\n\nIn 2017, the U.S. Department of Homeland Security\u2019s (DHS) Homeland Security Investigations division (HSI) spearheaded the Pacific Islands Liaison Initiative by establishing internal policies and procedures for coordination among HSI Honolulu, HSI Domestic Operations, and HSI International Operations to disrupt and deter transnational criminal organizations that exploit Pacific Island nations as transit points for the movement and concealment of illicit contraband bound for the United States, Australia and New Zealand.\n\nCase, who serves on the House Appropriations Committee\u2019s Subcommittee on Homeland Security which oversees and funds DHS including HSI, said, \u201cThis is not just a regional challenge for the Pacific Islands.\n\n\u201cThose inflated profits flow right back to transnational criminal organizations in the Western Hemisphere, strengthening the networks that threaten communities throughout the U.S.\n\n\u201cOur Pacific partners and allies have also been working tirelessly on this issue, including by coordinating with U.S. government agencies like HSI and the Joint Interagency Task Force \u2013 West, but they need more support and our measure is part of that answer.\u201d\n\nThe Pacific Islands Liaison Initiative Act would:\n\n\u00b7 Establish in statute HSI\u2019s Pacific Islands Liaison Initiative;\n\n\u00b7 Require four full-time HSI personnel at HSI Honolulu and HSI Guam to oversee the Initiative;\n\n\u00b7 Require an annual report to Congress on the activities of the Initiative; and\n\n\u00b7 Specifically authorize $5 million a year for the Initiative.\n\no Text of the Pacific Islands Liaison Initiative Act is here\n\n###", 1, "2026-07-09T08:24:13Z", "2026-07-09T08:26:05Z"]], "columns": ["url", "title", "date", "year", "month", "party", "chamber", "state", "member_name", "bioguide_id", "domain", "scraper", "source", "date_source", "text", "has_text", "collected_at", "updated_at"], "primary_keys": ["url"], "primary_key_values": ["https://case.house.gov/news/documentsingle.aspx?DocumentID=4953"], "units": {}, "query_ms": 0.8750769775360823, "source": "dwillis/congress-press", "source_url": "https://github.com/dwillis/congress-press", "license": "MIT", "license_url": "https://github.com/dwillis/congress-press/blob/main/LICENSE"}