Aloha Reader,

Twice last week, you showed up on short notice! We are so proud of our community.

Last Tuesday, 75 of you joined the pop-up protest to Take Back The Truth (January 6), and on Saturday for ICE Out For Good, 150 came together to honor the memory of Renee Nicole Good. Mahalo Nui!

It was so good to be among all of you. The energy was uplifting our collective grief, and the posters were incredible - click to view them for Tuesday's event, and here for Renee Nicole Good's rally. We also got included in Robert Hubbell's newsletter covering the nationwide protests.

By now, it's clear that the spectacle of gratuitous, unlawful, violent attacks on the vulnerable is the point. Whether in an El Salvador torture prison, the burgeoning ICE concentration camps, on the open sea, or in Venezuela, Los Angeles, or Minneapolis. The ICE goons want us to be afraid, and if we dare not be frightened - like Renee Nicole Good - it infuriates them and they need to demonstrate their power and control. This dangerous dynamic is discussed more in a post by Jo Carducci "The cost of telling a dangerous man you’re not afraid"​.

The spectacle of violence is a tactic to scare us into submission, just as it has been for authoritarian regimes around the world in the last century. Just as it was in the US in the days of lynching and burning crosses, that was the America they now want to make great again. We won't let them.

For a deeper dive into the signs that our government now reflects a fascist ideology, watch Heather Cox Richardson’s thorough discussion of this (and some hopeful notes she adds at the end) - "​Fascism, Renee Nicole Good, And Something Shifted Today​".

Call on Congress to hold ICE accountable

On Friday, the Indivisible Hawaii State Network joined more than 400 civil rights groups nationwide to call on Congress to rein in ICE and Border Patrol through budget negotiations. You can find the letter on the National Immigration Law Center (​NILC)​​ ​and ​American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU​)​ ​websites. Government funding runs out in January, and Congress has to reauthorize the federal budget to keep the government open. From that letter:

Congress should use its Article I power to limit these out-of-control agencies and require that they serve the public, not terrorize communities with impunity. Accordingly, we call on you to, at a minimum:

1. Refuse to vote for any FY2026 appropriations bill that includes increased funding for ICE or Border Patrol, including funds for detention. The existing system allowed 32 people to die in custody in 2025, the deadliest year ever, while thousands of others suffer physical and sexual abuse, medical neglect, and degrading conditions.
2. Refuse to vote for any appropriations bill for DHS beyond January 30 unless it:
   a. Strengthens restrictions on ICE and Border Patrol's ability to conduct dragnet arrest operations and target people based on their race, language or accent, place of employment, or location at the time of the apprehension;
   b. Ends border patrol deployment to our cities and rejects its ever-expanding mandate in immigration enforcement; and
   c. Limits DHS's reprogramming and transfer authority, including specifically preventing reprogramming and transferring funds for detention.

TAKE ACTION: Call and write your Senators and Congressional Representatives and cite this letter to hold the line in the coming budget negotiation. Find the contact information for your representatives here.

Prepare to call on the HI Legislature to enforce the State Constitution

On Friday, several of the KIND leadership attended the webinar "Legislative Advocacy in 2026" (Replay on YouTube). We all had the same impression that the representatives do not "read the room" and understand their constituents desire to feel safe(r).

We have to keep up the pressure when the legislative session starts later this month. Our partners, ALCU-Hawai'i and the Hawai'i Coalition for Immigrant Rights have been working with partners on a package of bills, including

• [No secret police] disallow immigration enforcement from wearing face covering
• [Ban on 287(g)] disallow ICE to delegate immigration enforcement authority to local law enforcement
• [Sensitive locations] protect places like schools, hospitals, places of worship, and child gathering spots from immigrant enforcement
• [Advocate for streamlined and fair licensing pathways for J-1 and other international teachers] recognize international credentials, allow licensed international teachers to stay in Hawai‘i for 5 years, and equal pay

MARK YOUR CALENDAR: Friday, January 30, 2026, 6 - 8 PM for the Hawai'i J20+ Solidarity Forum, United for Immigrants: Take Action for Migrant Rights NOW! At the event, we will share details of all the bills. Registration coming soon.

TAKE ACTION: Prepare yourself if you have not testified to the State Legislature before by registering an account. Everything you need to know is here: ​Engagement 101 – LRB – Public Access Room​

There is also live training, Wednesday, 1/14/2026, 12 PM - 1 PM, ​Register​ here​

Our Next Rally: Martin Luther King Jr. Day

Our next protest will be on Martin Luther King Jr. Day, on Monday, January 19, 2026, from 4 pm - 5 pm, in the usual spot on Queen Kaʻahumanu Highway, south of Henry Street.

We take inspiration from ​Dr. King’s Letter from Birmingham Jail​, a key document in nonviolent direct action:

Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere. We are caught in an inescapable network of mutuality, tied in a single garment of destiny. Whatever affects one directly, affects all indirectly. Never again can we afford to live with the narrow, provincial "outside agitator" idea. Anyone who lives inside the United States can never be considered an outsider anywhere within its bounds.

These words are as applicable to us today as they were when Dr. King penciled them in the margins of a newspaper, responding to moderate clergymen calling for restraint in 1963 Alabama.

TAKE ACTION: Join us Monday, January 19, 2026. Click To Register

New Police Chief Selection

At the December 19, 2025, meeting, the Police Commission laid out an open process for the selection of our next Police Chief. West Hawai'i Today covered the meeting: HPD chief applicants narrowed down to 11 ​

MARK YOUR CALENDAR: Interviews are scheduled for January 29th and 30th at the West Hawai'i Civic Center Council Chamber (Building A). They are open to the public. We do not yet have a Zoom link, although it was requested.

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In solidarity. Looking forward to seeing you on MLK Jr Day!
Sam
Lead

​ - The Kona Indivisible Team ​konaindivisible.org​ ​info@konaindivisible.org​

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