Bill Text: HI HR184 | 2022 | Regular Session | Introduced
Bill Title: Urging The United States Congress To Provide Adequate Funding For Immigration Services And Requesting Data On The Effect Of Case Backlogs And The Lack Of Free Or Low-cost Legal Representation On Immigration Cases Filed In Hawaii.
Spectrum: Partisan Bill (Democrat 10-0)
Status: (Passed) 2022-04-07 - Resolution adopted in final form. [HR184 Detail]
Download: Hawaii-2022-HR184-Introduced.html
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HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES |
H.R. NO. |
184 |
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THIRTY-FIRST LEGISLATURE, 2022 |
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STATE OF HAWAII |
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HOUSE RESOLUTION
urging the united states congress to provide adequate funding for immigration services and requesting data on THE EFFECT OF case backlogs and the lack of free or low-cost legal representation ON immigration cases filed in hawaii.
WHEREAS, the coronavirus disease 2019 pandemic, office closures, staff shortages, and other factors have exacerbated already-significant delays in the processing of immigration cases by the United States Citizenship and Immigration Services; and
WHEREAS, the agency currently has a backlog of more than nine million applications, including applications for work permits, green cards, visas, asylum, protection from deportation, and other immigration benefits; and
WHEREAS, long processing times can cause major hardships for already-vulnerable immigrants, who may be separated from their families, unable to work, and otherwise trapped in limbo; and
WHEREAS, many immigrants also have limited, or no, access to legal assistance, which poses an additional barrier to fair and full participation in the United States immigration system; and
WHEREAS, Hawaii has a severe shortage of legal service providers for low-income immigrants and currently has no attorneys who are registered with the State's immigration courts to provide free or low-cost immigration assistance; and
WHEREAS, between 2016 and 2021, immigration court judges in Hawaii denied approximately eighty-eight percent of asylum seekers where the asylum seeker was not represented by an attorney; now, therefore,
BE IT RESOLVED by the House of Representatives of the Thirty-first Legislature of the State of Hawaii, Regular Session of 2022, that the United States Congress is urged to provide adequate funding for immigration services, including moneys for additional United States Citizenship and Immigration Services staff to process case backlogs and moneys for free or low-cost court-appointed legal counsel for low-income immigrants, including low-income immigrants in Hawaii; and
BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that the United States Citizenship and Immigration Services is requested to provide data to the Legislature on the effect of existing case backlogs and the lack of free or low-cost legal representation on immigration cases filed in Hawaii, including the cases' average processing times and outcomes and the applicants' nationalities and access to legal representation; and
BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that certified copies of this Resolution be transmitted to the Secretary of Homeland Security, Director of United States Citizenship and Immigration Services, Majority Leader of the United States Senate, Speaker of the United States House of Representatives, members of Hawaii's congressional delegation, and Executive Director of the Department of Labor and Industrial Relations Office of Community Services.
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OFFERED BY: |
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Immigration; United States Citizenship and Immigration Services; Legal Representation; Funding
