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Jill Tokuda: “Many [people] throughout the country and here in Hawaii…”

Featuring: Jill Tokuda, Democratic | U.S. House Hawaii, 2nd Congressional District

Rep. Jill Tokuda Lahaina Town Hall | FEMA, Flood Relief, Fire Recovery & Federal Updates – April 26

Published April 11, 2026 | Video Starts at 14:41

Yeah, no, a lot. I don't think we've ever gotten a call from somebody who out of the blue, with no legal counsel needs to find a pathway to citizenship. Many [people] throughout the country and here in Hawaii, they've been going through [the immigration] process for years. In some cases, you know, trying to work the system that is completely backlogged that changes the rules half the time on them as well. (14:41–47:12)

CLAIM

Asserts that many people in Hawaii and the U.S. have been navigating the immigration process for years.

This is an excerpt from a raw transcript. The assertions have not been audited or verified. Tap the video to view the source footage and understand the context.

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Jill Tokuda

“We are neck deep over our heads in the middle of a war in Iran as well.”
Rep. Jill Tokuda Lahaina Town Hall | FEMA, Flood Relief, Fire Recovery & Federal Updates – April 26 | Uploaded April 11, 2026 | 02:13-02:20
“We just got the president's skinny budget... it asks for $1.5 trillion for the Department of Defense.”
Rep. Jill Tokuda Lahaina Town Hall | FEMA, Flood Relief, Fire Recovery & Federal Updates – April 26 | Uploaded April 11, 2026 | 02:46-02:57
“Hawaii actually has zero national Heritage Areas, which is why, for me, I thought it would be really fitting and appropriate that a former…”
Rep. Jill Tokuda Lahaina Town Hall | FEMA, Flood Relief, Fire Recovery & Federal Updates – April 26 | Uploaded April 11, 2026 | 15:51-16:02
“If we can put a billion dollars a day into a war, can we put that kind of same investment into businesses that have felt like they've gone…”
Rep. Jill Tokuda Lahaina Town Hall | FEMA, Flood Relief, Fire Recovery & Federal Updates – April 26 | Uploaded April 11, 2026 | 35:26-35:38
“Se Jun park is the prime example. Literally a Purple Heart veteran, he self deported back to South Korea.”
Rep. Jill Tokuda Lahaina Town Hall | FEMA, Flood Relief, Fire Recovery & Federal Updates – April 26 | Uploaded April 11, 2026 | 49:20-49:27
“The [immigration] system that is completely backlogged that changes the rules half the time on them as well.”
Rep. Jill Tokuda Lahaina Town Hall | FEMA, Flood Relief, Fire Recovery & Federal Updates – April 26 | Uploaded April 11, 2026 | 00:09-47:21
“The [immigration] system right now is absolutely broken the way that it is, and people are hurting because of it.”
Rep. Jill Tokuda Lahaina Town Hall | FEMA, Flood Relief, Fire Recovery & Federal Updates – April 26 | Uploaded April 11, 2026 | 00:09-48:45
“It [the budget] cut a lot of really critically important programs for us, whether it's student loans, LIHEAP.”
Rep. Jill Tokuda Lahaina Town Hall | FEMA, Flood Relief, Fire Recovery & Federal Updates – April 26 | Uploaded April 11, 2026 | 00:14-04:02
“That [Senate proposal] passed unanimously out of the Senate.”
Rep. Jill Tokuda Lahaina Town Hall | FEMA, Flood Relief, Fire Recovery & Federal Updates – April 26 | Uploaded April 11, 2026 | 00:21-01:46
“We are actually still in the middle of a partial government shutdown where the Department of Homeland Security is not funded.”
Rep. Jill Tokuda Lahaina Town Hall | FEMA, Flood Relief, Fire Recovery & Federal Updates – April 26 | Uploaded April 11, 2026 | 01:06-01:15
“There was a very solid option that had come out of the United States Senate to partially fund DHS, almost completely.”
Rep. Jill Tokuda Lahaina Town Hall | FEMA, Flood Relief, Fire Recovery & Federal Updates – April 26 | Uploaded April 11, 2026 | 01:18-01:25
“Gas is probably close to $6, if not more, depending on the grade of gas that you have at this moment.”
Rep. Jill Tokuda Lahaina Town Hall | FEMA, Flood Relief, Fire Recovery & Federal Updates – April 26 | Uploaded April 11, 2026 | 02:31-02:39
“Eliminating a lot of essential Native Hawaiian programs from housing to education.”
Rep. Jill Tokuda Lahaina Town Hall | FEMA, Flood Relief, Fire Recovery & Federal Updates – April 26 | Uploaded April 11, 2026 | 03:14-03:19
“Looking to flatline and making some significant policy changes like actually classifying Native Hawaiians as a racial group.”
Rep. Jill Tokuda Lahaina Town Hall | FEMA, Flood Relief, Fire Recovery & Federal Updates – April 26 | Uploaded April 11, 2026 | 03:19-03:30
“The WIC program, they had cuts to that.”
Rep. Jill Tokuda Lahaina Town Hall | FEMA, Flood Relief, Fire Recovery & Federal Updates – April 26 | Uploaded April 11, 2026 | 03:55-03:59
“My understanding is we're getting that [federal disaster] declaration.”
Rep. Jill Tokuda Lahaina Town Hall | FEMA, Flood Relief, Fire Recovery & Federal Updates – April 26 | Uploaded April 11, 2026 | 05:57-06:01
“It's going to trigger a lot of different supports. Individual assistance will come in.”
Rep. Jill Tokuda Lahaina Town Hall | FEMA, Flood Relief, Fire Recovery & Federal Updates – April 26 | Uploaded April 11, 2026 | 06:11-06:17
“Access to insurance has become more and more difficult.”
Rep. Jill Tokuda Lahaina Town Hall | FEMA, Flood Relief, Fire Recovery & Federal Updates – April 26 | Uploaded April 11, 2026 | 07:24-07:29
“We had to really make sure that there was coverage here to the point of even having the hurricane relief fund here to provide reinsurance if…”
Rep. Jill Tokuda Lahaina Town Hall | FEMA, Flood Relief, Fire Recovery & Federal Updates – April 26 | Uploaded April 11, 2026 | 07:47-07:57
“We really have to make sure that our residents have access, our businesses have access to affordable coverage.”
Rep. Jill Tokuda Lahaina Town Hall | FEMA, Flood Relief, Fire Recovery & Federal Updates – April 26 | Uploaded April 11, 2026 | 09:09-09:16
“Hawaii as a state and our counties could not manage over $1.5 billion in losses and damage on our own.”
Rep. Jill Tokuda Lahaina Town Hall | FEMA, Flood Relief, Fire Recovery & Federal Updates – April 26 | Uploaded April 11, 2026 | 11:01-11:09
“Mold is the biggest concern that we have right now from a health perspective.”
Rep. Jill Tokuda Lahaina Town Hall | FEMA, Flood Relief, Fire Recovery & Federal Updates – April 26 | Uploaded April 11, 2026 | 11:40-11:45
“Schofield Barracks has opened up 80 units for people in Waialua North Shore that have been displaced.”
Rep. Jill Tokuda Lahaina Town Hall | FEMA, Flood Relief, Fire Recovery & Federal Updates – April 26 | Uploaded April 11, 2026 | 13:20-13:28
“We had passed the Heritage act basically to have it identified Lahaina as a whole, not just Rentree, Lahaina as a whole, as a heritage, a…”
Rep. Jill Tokuda Lahaina Town Hall | FEMA, Flood Relief, Fire Recovery & Federal Updates – April 26 | Uploaded April 11, 2026 | 14:42-14:56
“Once the Department of Interior is completed with that study, then it kicks back to Congress for me to then present it for approval.”
Rep. Jill Tokuda Lahaina Town Hall | FEMA, Flood Relief, Fire Recovery & Federal Updates – April 26 | Uploaded April 11, 2026 | 16:12-16:19
“Now more people will be able to qualify for SNAP because of a disaster declaration.”
Rep. Jill Tokuda Lahaina Town Hall | FEMA, Flood Relief, Fire Recovery & Federal Updates – April 26 | Uploaded April 11, 2026 | 23:39-23:46
“We've written letters asking for the hot foods exemption to kick in again.”
Rep. Jill Tokuda Lahaina Town Hall | FEMA, Flood Relief, Fire Recovery & Federal Updates – April 26 | Uploaded April 11, 2026 | 23:47-23:52
“Right now you actually can't buy hot foods with your SNAP EBT card.”
Rep. Jill Tokuda Lahaina Town Hall | FEMA, Flood Relief, Fire Recovery & Federal Updates – April 26 | Uploaded April 11, 2026 | 23:56-24:01
“If you know folks who had EBT that lost food because the electricity went out, you can get a reimbursement that has been extended to August…”
Rep. Jill Tokuda Lahaina Town Hall | FEMA, Flood Relief, Fire Recovery & Federal Updates – April 26 | Uploaded April 11, 2026 | 24:27-24:37
“Ed Case is on the Appropriations Committee, but he represents Oahu.”
Rep. Jill Tokuda Lahaina Town Hall | FEMA, Flood Relief, Fire Recovery & Federal Updates – April 26 | Uploaded April 11, 2026 | 25:50-25:54
“Senator Schatz has Appropriations, and he's working his way up the leadership.”
Rep. Jill Tokuda Lahaina Town Hall | FEMA, Flood Relief, Fire Recovery & Federal Updates – April 26 | Uploaded April 11, 2026 | 26:49-26:53
“Representative Case is on Appropriations, which means I will never be on Appropriations as long as he's on Appropriations.”
Rep. Jill Tokuda Lahaina Town Hall | FEMA, Flood Relief, Fire Recovery & Federal Updates – April 26 | Uploaded April 11, 2026 | 26:53-26:59
“Senator Hirono is there, and she does a lot with Judiciary.”
Rep. Jill Tokuda Lahaina Town Hall | FEMA, Flood Relief, Fire Recovery & Federal Updates – April 26 | Uploaded April 11, 2026 | 27:06-27:11
“We took way too long to actually look at the economic lifeblood that would keep the community going in terms of how we support small…”
Rep. Jill Tokuda Lahaina Town Hall | FEMA, Flood Relief, Fire Recovery & Federal Updates – April 26 | Uploaded April 11, 2026 | 30:58-31:08
“We really haven't put together a solid plan for how we bring small businesses back [in Lahaina].”
Rep. Jill Tokuda Lahaina Town Hall | FEMA, Flood Relief, Fire Recovery & Federal Updates – April 26 | Uploaded April 11, 2026 | 31:08-31:15
“We really haven't answered the call from businesses to help them to figure out how we get Front street back and businesses back on Front…”
Rep. Jill Tokuda Lahaina Town Hall | FEMA, Flood Relief, Fire Recovery & Federal Updates – April 26 | Uploaded April 11, 2026 | 32:12-32:23
“I still want to push a bill where we don't give Eidl loans because most of you were dealing with COVID Eidl and then you got hit and now you…”
Rep. Jill Tokuda Lahaina Town Hall | FEMA, Flood Relief, Fire Recovery & Federal Updates – April 26 | Uploaded April 11, 2026 | 32:43-32:56
“We should be talking about small grants even to businesses to help, you know, you buy back equipment, to purchase supplies that were…”
Rep. Jill Tokuda Lahaina Town Hall | FEMA, Flood Relief, Fire Recovery & Federal Updates – April 26 | Uploaded April 11, 2026 | 33:07-33:18
“The visitor industry itself has been struggling nationally and especially in states like Hawaii.”
Rep. Jill Tokuda Lahaina Town Hall | FEMA, Flood Relief, Fire Recovery & Federal Updates – April 26 | Uploaded April 11, 2026 | 36:37-36:44
“The tariffs have not helped.”
Rep. Jill Tokuda Lahaina Town Hall | FEMA, Flood Relief, Fire Recovery & Federal Updates – April 26 | Uploaded April 11, 2026 | 36:43-36:45
“Increase in the jet fuel right now is going to really increase prices of air tickets.”
Rep. Jill Tokuda Lahaina Town Hall | FEMA, Flood Relief, Fire Recovery & Federal Updates – April 26 | Uploaded April 11, 2026 | 36:45-36:51
“The Small Business Development center is one avenue that we have attached to the SBA.”
Rep. Jill Tokuda Lahaina Town Hall | FEMA, Flood Relief, Fire Recovery & Federal Updates – April 26 | Uploaded April 11, 2026 | 37:38-37:58
“If they call our office, we just need people to fill out a privacy release form that allows us to then reach out to agencies and get access…”
Rep. Jill Tokuda Lahaina Town Hall | FEMA, Flood Relief, Fire Recovery & Federal Updates – April 26 | Uploaded April 11, 2026 | 39:23-39:39
“We need real immigration reform.”
Rep. Jill Tokuda Lahaina Town Hall | FEMA, Flood Relief, Fire Recovery & Federal Updates – April 26 | Uploaded April 11, 2026 | 48:27-48:30
“Immigration reform is absolutely necessary, which includes legal pathways to citizenship, real pathways.”
Rep. Jill Tokuda Lahaina Town Hall | FEMA, Flood Relief, Fire Recovery & Federal Updates – April 26 | Uploaded April 11, 2026 | 48:30-48:38
“A lot of folks were checking in and still got picked up.”
Rep. Jill Tokuda Lahaina Town Hall | FEMA, Flood Relief, Fire Recovery & Federal Updates – April 26 | Uploaded April 11, 2026 | 52:37-52:41
“That's the roughly $2 billion that we got to be able to support the rebuilding here.”
Rep. Jill Tokuda Lahaina Town Hall | FEMA, Flood Relief, Fire Recovery & Federal Updates – April 26 | Uploaded April 11, 2026 | 54:06-54:14
“A lot of times it's the county permitting that is the huge beast of burden.”
Rep. Jill Tokuda Lahaina Town Hall | FEMA, Flood Relief, Fire Recovery & Federal Updates – April 26 | Uploaded April 11, 2026 | 54:32-54:39