THE SENATE

KA ‘AHA KENEKOA

 

INTERIM OF 2025

 

COMMITTEE ON JUDICIARY

Senator Karl Rhoads, Chair

Senator Mike Gabbard, Vice Chair

 

 

NOTICE OF INFORMATIONAL BRIEFING

 

DATE:

Monday, December 8, 2025

TIME:

2:00 P.M.

PLACE:

Conference Room 016 & Videoconference

State Capitol

415 South Beretania Street

 

 

PHOTO ID REQUIRED FOR ENTRANCE TO THE STATE CAPITOL

BUILDING HOURS: 7AM TO 5PM, MONDAY - FRIDAY

 

A live stream of all Senate Standing Committee meetings will be available on the Senate YouTube Channel.

 

 

A G E N D A

 

The purpose of this informational briefing is for the Committee to receive information about the impact and legality of federal immigration enforcement efforts in Hawaiʻi.  The briefing will address the federal administration's immigration enforcement policies and actions as they relate to Hawai`i and how they may be ignoring commonly accepted norms and violating laws. 

 

Among other issues, the briefing will explore enforcement actions that are occurring in the State, the disregard of due process requirements and standard court or legal practices, the questioning and detention of individuals who are U.S. citizens or whose legal immigration status is clear, the suppression of free speech and the media, and pressure on state and local law enforcement to collaborate with federal immigration actions.

 

1.  Welcome and Introductions (5 minutes)

 

2.  Overview from Dr. Amy Agbayani, Emeritus Assistant Vice Chancellor for Student Diversity at  

          the University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa and Co-Chair of Hawai'i Friends of Civil Rights (5 minutes)

 

3.  Presentations (15 minutes each):

 

a.  Bettina Mok, Executive Director, The Legal Clinic (TLC) - Briefing Materials TLC

 

b.  Kevin J. Block, Immigration Attorney and Founder, Maui Immigration Law, LLC - Briefing Materials MIL

 

c.  Liza Ryan Gill, Co-Coordinator, Hawaiʻi Coalition for Immigrant Rights (HICIR) - Briefing Materials HICIR

 

d.  Danicole Ramos, Equal Justice Works Fellow and Immigrant Veterans Advocate, Refugee & Immigration Law Clinic (RILC) at the University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa William S. Richardson School of Law - Briefing Materials RILC

 

4.  Closing Remarks from Dr. Agbayani (10 minutes)

 

5.  Questions from the Committee (5 minutes per Member for questions and answers)

                                                                                                                                      

 

As is the norm for informational briefings, no public testimony will be accepted.

 

 

For special assistance: The cable TV broadcast and/or live stream of this meeting will include closed captioning. If you need an auxiliary aid/service or other accommodation due to a disability, please call the committee clerk at the telephone number listed below or email JDCcommittee@capitol.hawaii.gov. Requests made as early as possible have a greater likelihood of being fulfilled.

 

 

FOR AMENDED NOTICES:  Measures that have been deleted are stricken through and measures that have been added are underscored.  If a measure is both underscored and stricken through, that measure has been deleted from the agenda.

 

 

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION, PLEASE CALL THE COMMITTEE CLERK AT (808) 587-7211.

 

 

 

 

 

_____________________________________

Senator Karl Rhoads

Chair

 

 

_____________________________________

Senator Ronald D. Kouchi

President of the Senate