Requesting Signees from the William S. Richardson School of Law.
As the student body at the William S. Richardson School of Law, we express our strong support of Governor Ige’s statement of humanity toward refugees fleeing ISIS and state-led violence in Syria. We strongly oppose any response based on xenophobic, racist, or anti-immigrant rhetoric, and we ask the Law School Government, as our representing body, to issue a similar statement of support.
We recognize that Governor Ige has no legal authority to accept or deny refugees access to our state. Governor Ige’s recent statements are an extension of goodwill that we believe embody the values of our law school’s community.
We recognize that out of the more than 50 territories where the United States government resettles refugees, Hawai‘i always ranks among the jurisdictions that receive the lowest number of refugees. There will thus not be an influx of persons into our state that exceeds the capacity of our current infrastructure.
We recognize that zero refugees have been resettled in Hawai‘i in 2015, and only six have been resettled in our state in the past four years: two from Burma and four from Iraq. There is thus no basis to fear that refugee resettlement in Hawaiʻi would burden the state’s fiscal resources.
We recognize that resettling Syrian refugees in the United States is an act of compassion that aligns with our current legal system. Over 50% of refugees brought to the United States will be children, and many more will be seniors or those in need of medical care. Our current legal system provides a framework for refugee resettlement for situations such as that going on in Syria so to prevent the perpetuation of humanitarian crises.
We recognize that President Obama’s intention of accepting 10,000 Syrian refugees in 2016 would also not overburden our nation’s fiscal resources. The United States, along with countries across the globe, must each play a part in helping address the humanitarian crisis faced by the approximately 4 million Syrians that have been displaced by the recent conflict.
We recognize that immigrants are less likely to commit violent crimes than the broader population. Each potential refugee goes through a rigorous and lengthy screening process by the Department of Homeland Security and the Federal Bureau of Investigation before being admitted into the country. We must thus disavow all racial and religious prejudices that suggest Syrian refugees would have a negative impact on our public safety.
