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Kaimalie Stensgaard
Mrs. Ebisuya
English 8
Ihe
7 April 2016
To Refuse Refuge
Not too long ago, Governor Ige announced that he expects that
Hawaii will accept Syrian refugees into the state, but because of
recent terrorist attacks in Paris which are believed to be connected
with members of ISIS who entered the US as refugees and the small
amount of space Hawaii has for more people, many people are asking
the same question. Is it a good idea to be welcoming Syrian Refugees
into Hawaii?
I believe that Hawaii should not take on the responsibility of welcoming
refugees. This would be because if we take on the responsibility of taking care of these
refugees, not only would there be public concerns for safety due to recent attacks
connected to the cover of refugees, we dont have very much room for more people to
live here.
"Hawaii is already short on critical resources like housing. Just take a look at our
homeless situation, look at how hard it is to find affordable rent, look at the Department
of Health and the Department of Human Services and the work they've taken on with the
COFA immigrants. We can be compassionate, we can extend the Aloha Spirit, but it is

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important to also be realistic and pragmatic with our state resources," Said Senator Slom,
who also repels the idea of welcoming refugees into Hawaii.
If we were to bring refugees into Hawaii, assuming that unless a refugee was
trained in a certain profession, then they would have to find another source of income to
sustain themselves. Knowing that we dont have many affordable houses available in
Hawaii, an average rent per month for a furnished apartment in Hawaii is about 2,200
dollars. With our large population not many jobs besides occasional minimum wage jobs
would be available to refugees, which is required by the state to pay at least 7.75 dollars
an hour. This would mean that a refugee working a minimum wage job living in an
apartment would have to work at least 71 hours a week every month just to make enough
money for rent. This is obviously, unhealthy for anyone to work that much a week as
shown in a study on http://money.cnn.com/2015/07/09/news/economy/americans-workbush/, stating that the average American adult working full time works 47 hours per
week, not nearly as much as what I stated before. Therefore, if refugees were to take
refuge here, not only would they have to piece their lives back together, but they would
also have to work themselves to exhaustion just to make a living.
Yes, president Obama had announced that he expects to allow 10,000 refugees
into America and asked that other states do the same to accept refugees, but by
welcoming in these refugees, we also risk the safety of the public. The Paris attackers,
whom were supposedly connected to ISIS, were believed to have immigrated to America
in the form of refugees. ISIS has also said that they have connections all over the world,
and if the Paris attackers made it through security checks once as refugees, whos to say
that more people connected to ISIS wont pass inspection again?

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In conclusion, in the interest of keeping the public safe and with the complications
surrounding our expensive housing, shortage on low priced houses and homeless
problem, accepting Syrian refugees into Hawaii would be a very risky path to take as
well as a very problematic one.

Work Cited
"Cost of Living in Honolulu, Hawaii, United States. Apr 2016 Prices in Honolulu,
Hawaii." Expatistan, Cost of Living Comparisons. N.p., n.d. Web. 05 Apr. 2016.
"Senate Minority Leader Opposes Resettlement of Syrian Refugees in Hawaii."
Senate Minority Leader Opposes Resettlement of Syrian Refugees I. N.p., n.d. Web. 05
Apr. 2016.
"Workforce Participation Has to Rise from Its All-time Modern Lows. It Means
That People Need to Work Longer Hours, and Through Their Productivity Gain More
Income for Their Families. That's the Only Way We Are Going to Get out of This Rut
That We're In," the Republican Presidential Candidate Said in New Hampshire
Wednesday. "Turns out Americans Work Really Hard...but Some Want to Work Harder."
CNNMoney. Cable News Network, n.d. Web. 05 Apr. 2016.