U.S.–Pacific Islands Conference of Police Ministers (COPMIN) – “Securing the Pacific Together”

The United States will host the inaugural U.S.-Pacific Islands Conference of Police Ministers (COPMIN) in Los Angeles, California, on October 21-22, 2026. U.S. Coast Guard Commandant Admiral Kevin Lunday will co-chair the ministerial with Palau Minister of Justice Jennifer Olegeriil and lead the U.S. delegation. Assistant Secretary of State for International Narcotics and Law Enforcement Affairs F. Cartwright Weiland and senior officials from the Federal Bureau of Investigation, the Department of Homeland Security, the Drug Enforcement Administration, Homeland Security Investigations, U.S. Customs and Border Protection, PACOM/Joint Interagency Task Force West, the Department of the Treasury, and other agencies will join the delegation.

COPMIN will bring together police ministers and law enforcement leaders from across the Pacific Islands, joined by counterparts from Ecuador and the Philippines, alongside the delegation from the United States, to confront the transnational criminal networks that threaten the region. Narcoterrorists and transnational criminal organizations exploit the vastness of the Pacific Ocean to move fentanyl precursors, cocaine, methamphetamine, and other narcotics into communities in the Pacific and the United States. These networks also run online scams and commit other cyber-enabled crimes that defraud our citizens while they launder their profits through underground banking networks. Additionally, distant-water fishing fleets engaging in illegal, unreported, and unregulated fishing deplete the ocean's fish stocks.

Over two days, COPMIN will advance joint efforts to counter drug trafficking, strengthen maritime and port security, combat cyber-enabled fraud, and disrupt illicit finance. At a cross-regional roundtable, Ecuador and the Philippine Coast Guard will join U.S. and Pacific officials to examine how trafficking and illegal fishing networks span the Americas, Southeast Asia, and the Pacific. Pacific officials will visit the Port of Long Beach, where U.S. Customs and Border Protection will demonstrate drug detection technology. They will also tour the harbor to see firsthand how U.S. port officials work to counter criminal networks trying to infiltrate the supply chain.

The United States has a direct and enduring stake in the security of the Pacific. More than 1.9 million U.S. citizens and nationals live in Hawaii, Guam, American Samoa, and the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands, while tens of millions more live along our western seaboard, from California to Alaska. We are committed to working with our Pacific partners to protect Americans from transnational crime. When the Pacific is secure, America is safer.

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