Hawaii loses bid to
force feds to examine
immigration reports

Associated Press

SAN FRANCISCO -- Hawaii and two U.S. Pacific territories, which say they're being harmed financially by immigration from island nations, can't require the U.S. government to scrutinize the impact more carefully, says a federal appeals court.

In a 3-0 ruling yesterday, the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals ordered dismissal of a suit by Hawaii, Guam and the Northern Mariana Islands over federal compliance with a law requiring annual reports on immigration from the Marshall Islands and the Federated States of Micronesia.

If properly documented, the reports would show rising migration from the Marshalls and Micronesia, where economic conditions are worsening, and the need for more federal funds to defray the costs, said Madeline Austin, a Hawaii deputy attorney general.

But the court said the reports could be judged only by Congress.

"Having requested the report, Congress, not the Judiciary, is in the best position to decide whether it's gotten what it wants," said the opinion by Judge Pamela Rymer.

Gov. Ben Cayetano said today he will now turn to Congress and ask federal lawmakers to appropriate $11.5 million for Hawaii to reimburse the state for social services, primarily educational, that have been provided to immigrants from the Marshalls and Micronesia.

In a January letter to the Interior Department, Cayetano cited a recent census saying that 4,815 immigrants from the two countries had come to Hawaii -- more than four times the number in the department's 1996 report -- and nearly 40 percent lived in poverty, with impacts on welfare, health care and crime.

"It is time for Congress to honor its commitment to redress adverse consequences to the state and to reimburse us for the last 12 years of compact impact costs," Cayetano said.

The Marshalls and Micronesia are parties to a 1985 compact that defines their economic and military relationship with the United States.

The compact allows citizens of the two island nations to live and work in the United States and its territories.

An accompanying federal law required the government to submit annual reports to Congress on the impact on Hawaii and the Pacific territories, on areas such as labor, wages, taxes, social programs and the environment.