Petition posted to pause immigration

KAILUA-KONA — A Kona resident frustrated by a lack of response from Gov. David Ige’s office about 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 for 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 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,” Myers said. “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 the same day the U.S. House of Representatives voted, 289-137, to pause relocation of refugees from Syria and Iraq. 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 said.

The debate about 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 refugees here and noted 21 refugees have moved to Hawaii during the past decade, but none of them were from Syria.

Ige spokeswoman Jodi Leong said Thursday the office has received about 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 “the governor is being made aware of all the questions and concerns.”

Questions about whether one of the Paris attack suspects posed as a Syrian refugee have heightened alarm in connection with the debate. Federal refugee vetting guidelines can run 18 months.

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 galleys, 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.”

Email Chelsea Jensen at cjensen@westhawaiitoday.com.