HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

H.C.R. NO.

74

THIRTY-SECOND LEGISLATURE, 2023

S.D. 1

STATE OF HAWAII

 

 

 

 

 

HOUSE CONCURRENT

RESOLUTION

 

 

ENCOURAGING THE FACILITATION OF A PATH TO CITIZENSHIP FOR IMMIGRANTS FROM PARTIES TO THE COMPACTS OF FREE ASSOCIATION.

 

 


     WHEREAS, from 1946 to 1958, the United States conducted sixty-seven nuclear tests in the Marshall Islands, including above-ground testing and detonation of a bomb with a magnitude of over one thousand times that of the Hiroshima bombing; and

 

     WHEREAS, partially as compensation for the loss of life, poor health conditions, displacement, and loss of land use due to nuclear testing, the Compacts of Free Association (COFA) between the United States, the Federated States of Micronesia (Yap, Pohnpei, Chuuk, Kosrae), the Republic of Palau, and the Republic of the Marshall Islands were established starting in or around 1986; and

 

     WHEREAS, the United States has a continuing military interest and presence in the region and COFA provides the United States sole access to and substantial military and veto power over areas of these island nations, which are considered of great strategic value; and

 

     WHEREAS, COFA allows citizens of COFA nations to live and legally work in the United States without visas as "non-immigrants"; and

 

     WHEREAS, while citizens of COFA nations present in the United States are eligible to receive some social and health services that other immigrants and United States citizens can receive, they are ineligible for other services, including Medicaid; and

 

     WHEREAS, under United States immigration law, there is no path to United States citizenship for citizens of COFA nations; now, therefore,

 

     BE IT RESOLVED by the House of Representatives of the Thirty-second Legislature of the State of Hawaii, Regular Session of 2023, the Senate concurring, that the United States Congress is encouraged to facilitate a path to citizenship for immigrants from the Federated States of Micronesia, the Republic of Palau, and the Republic of the Marshall Islands; and

 

     BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that United States Immigration and Customs Enforcement is requested to refrain from deporting the aforementioned immigrants; and

 

     BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that certified copies of this Concurrent Resolution be transmitted to the Majority Leader of the United States Senate, Speaker of the United States House of Representatives, members of Hawaii's congressional delegation, and Director of United States Immigration and Customs Enforcement.

Report Title:

Compacts of Free Association; Citizenship; Immigration; Congress