KAILUA-KONA — A Kona resident frustrated by a lack of response from Gov. David Ige’s office on the decision to resettle Syrian refugees in Hawaii is creating an online petition seeking to pause immigration to the state.
“I would like the governor to pause any immigration and take a look at how they plan to vet people before they bring them in the state,” said Bob Myers, who’s lived on the Big Island about 25 years. “I don’t want them to say ‘no more’ or ‘bring ‘em in,’ I want them to say how they are going to vet these people before we bring them into the state.”
Myers said he tried calling the Kona, Hilo and Honolulu offices of the governor repeatedly on Monday but received no response.
“I left a message expressing my discomfort of the position and that it didn’t represent the people of Hawaii and maybe this is an issue that should be discussed before Hawaii opens its arms,” said Myers. … “I think I am entitled to talk to a human being. I don’t expect the governor to call back, but I do expect someone to call back because this will impact the state.”
Frustrated, he said he has no choice but to take to www.change.org to file the petition to pause immigration. This came on the same day that the U.S. House of Representatives voted to pause relocation from Syria and Iraq by a vote of 289 to 137. Prospects for passing the measure in the Senate remain uncertain and the White House said it will veto any such bill.
“Apparently, the governor is not responding, he is not open to hearing what the public has to say and I just think everyone else out there needs to know that the governor’s office has no ears for what we, the individual taxpayers, the people that live in this state, want and what they’re feelings are,” Myers told West Hawaii Today.
The debate over whether to welcome refugees has gone on since Monday when Ige announced Hawaii would welcome refugees from Syria. On Tuesday, he said he did not know of any specific plans to relocate the refugees and noted that 21 refugees have moved to Hawaii during the past decade, but none of them was from Syria.
Ige spokeswoman Jodi Leong said Thursday the office has received around 500 calls from the public about his statement and the office’s three staff members are working to respond to emails and calls “as quickly as they can.”
“We have a large volume of calls and emails but they’re responding as quickly as they can,” Leong said. “We do have people in the office to respond but obviously we have a finite number of resources to do so.”
She also added that “the governor is being made aware of all the questions and concerns.”
Questions of whether one of the Paris attack suspects posed as a Syrian refugee has heightened alarm around the debate. West Hawaii Today has also has received numerous letters to the editor on the topic, some of which have opposed Ige’s decision, noting the governor should be paying attention to local issues like homelessness.
Myers, a former Los Angeles police officer, said he is concerned about the likelihood for homelessness to increase, as well as a potential risk to himself and his fellow Americans.
His petition will join others on Change.org opposing the resettling of Syrians in Hawaii, including one that had collected more than 13,000 signatures as of Thursday afternoon. Another petition filed on the website Wednesday evening seeking the state House of Representatives to impeach the governor had more than 900 supporters.
“In the State of Hawaii, we have a homeless problem, we have people living on the streets, in the alleys, in the gutters we have our own homeless situation in this state,” Myers said. “I am also against bringing in any risk or any threat to the American public and this goes back to my days as a cop and it was my job to protect and serve.”
