HI HR184

Urges U.S. Congress to provide adequate funding for immigration services, including additional staffing for U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services to process case backlogs and funding for free or low-cost court-appointed legal counsel for low-income immigrants.

Requests that U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services provide data to the Hawaii Legislature on the effects of case backlogs and lack of legal representation on immigration cases filed in Hawaii, including processing times, outcomes, applicants' nationalities, and access to legal representation.

Identifies that the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services has a backlog of more than nine million applications for work permits, green cards, visas, asylum, and other immigration benefits, exacerbated by the COVID-19 pandemic and staff shortages.

Notes that Hawaii has a severe shortage of legal service providers for low-income immigrants, with no attorneys registered with the state's immigration courts to provide free or low-cost assistance, and that 88 percent of unrepresented asylum seekers were denied between 2016 and 2021.

Directs that certified copies be transmitted to the Secretary of Homeland Security, Director of U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services, congressional leadership, Hawaii's congressional delegation, and the state Department of Labor and Industrial Relations Office of Community Services.