Bill Text: HI SR18 | 2016 | Regular Session | Amended

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Bill Title: United States Citizenship and Immigration Services; Mobile Interview and Biometric Intake; Resumption of Services; Neighbor Islands; Immigrants and Migrants; Hawaii Coalition for Immigration Rights

Spectrum: Partisan Bill (Democrat 1-0)

Status: (Passed) 2016-04-26 - Report and Resolution Adopted. [SR18 Detail]

Download: Hawaii-2016-SR18-Amended.html

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THE SENATE	S.R. NO.	18
TWENTY-EIGHTH LEGISLATURE, 2016		S.D. 1
STATE OF HAWAII

SENATE RESOLUTION

 

 

URGING UNITED STATES CITIZENSHIP AND IMMIGRATION SERVICES TO IMMEDIATELY RESUME BIOMETRIC INTAKE AND INTERVIEWS ON THE COUNTIES OF HAWAII, MAUI, AND KAUAI.

 

 

     WHEREAS, Hawaii is among the top five states with the highest share of immigrants in their population; and

 

     WHEREAS, approximately 74,000 immigrants reside on the neighbor islands; and

 

     WHEREAS, approximately 34,000 immigrants on the neighbor islands are not naturalized United States citizens and must undergo immigration processes adjudicated by United States Citizenship and Immigration Services; and

 

     WHEREAS, United States Citizenship and Immigration Services terminated quarterly interview services to the neighbor islands in 2007; and

 

     WHEREAS, United States Citizenship and Immigration Services terminated quarterly biometric intake to the neighbor islands in 2009; and

 

     WHEREAS, United States Citizenship and Immigration Services only performs basic immigration services, such as mandatory interviews and biometric intake, in Honolulu; and

 

     WHEREAS, immigrants on the neighbor islands do not have equal access to the immigration process as immigrants who reside on Oahu; and

 

     WHEREAS, United States Citizenship and Immigration Services gives only one week's advance notice of scheduled biometric intake or interviews on Oahu, and rescheduling can take up to three months; and

 

     WHEREAS, fees related to immigration applications are steep and difficult to manage for many newcomers; and

 

     WHEREAS, the cost of roundtrip air travel to Honolulu presents an additional substantial barrier to the immigration process, and the lowest airfare rates are available thirty days in advance; and

 

     WHEREAS, immigrants who have not yet naturalized are more likely to be one hundred percent below the poverty level than naturalized immigrants; and

 

     WHEREAS, the majority of immigrants in Hawaii are women, and foreign-born women who are naturalized citizens earn approximately $8,500 more per year than foreign-born women who have not yet naturalized; and

 

     WHEREAS, United States Citizenship and Immigration Services now has a greater ability to conduct mobile biometric intake on neighbor islands because of improvements in technology since the routes were discontinued in 2009; and

 

     WHEREAS, limited exceptions and travel waivers for those physically unable to travel to Honolulu do not provide meaningful access to the immigration process for the majority of neighbor island immigrants; and

 

     WHEREAS, social service providers on the neighbor islands report that the termination of United States Citizenship and Immigration Services mobile routes to the neighbor islands has resulted in immigrant clients not renewing their green cards because it is too expensive to travel to Honolulu; and

 

     WHEREAS, the lack of basic immigration services on all islands directly undermines the White House Task Force on New Americans and new programs that encourage legal permanent residents in Hawaii to apply for citizenship; and

 

     WHEREAS, United States Citizenship and Immigration Services is unwilling to contract biometric intake and interviews to a third party, such as a law enforcement agency or private government contractor; and

 

     WHEREAS, the Hawai‘i Coalition for Immigration Rights, which represents over seventy nonprofit and legal organizations that directly serve immigrants in Hawaii, has been campaigning for the resumption of mobile interviews and biometric intake for over two years; and

 

     WHEREAS, United States Citizenship and Immigration Services has an obligation to provide a feasible process to all immigrants and migrants; now, therefore,

 

     BE IT RESOLVED by the Senate of the Twenty-eighth Legislature of the State of Hawaii, Regular Session of 2016, that the United States Citizenship and Immigration Services is urged to immediately resume mobile biometric intake and interviews to the counties of Hawaii, Maui, and Kauai; and

 

     BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that a certified copy of this Resolution be transmitted to the Field Office Director for the Honolulu Field Office of the United States Citizenship and Immigration Services.

Report Title: 

United States Citizenship and Immigration Services; Mobile Interview and Biometric Intake; Resumption of Services; Neighbor Islands; Immigrants and Migrants; Hawaii Coalition for Immigration Rights