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Eartha Hoyos’ grin said it all. Unlike the mostly stoic participants seated around her Wednesday, the Colombian native revealed the joy she felt at the end of her two-year journey toward U.S. citizenship. "I don't feel like a guest anymore," Hoyos said. Ninety-eight applicants from 27 countries participated in a naturalization ceremony aboard...

What does Sen. Mazie Hirono now have in common with Oprah Winfrey, Hillary Rodham Clinton, and Ellen DeGeneres? Hirono’s story was posted along with the others on a web site, which in the words of the organizers, “aims to become the largest video library of women’s stories ever told.” The site is being put together by the...

Sometimes luck is all about hard work. For more than a year, Mazie Hirono designed her campaign for the U.S. Senate around her inspiring story of fleeing Japan with her mother in 1947 to immigrate to America and live in Hawaii. Parts of the successful 2012 campaign held up her mother's desperate life in Fukushima; other parts were about the voyage...

As Congress works to frame a sweeping immigration reform deal, U.S. Sen. Mazie Hirono and 12 other female senators Thursday introduced an amendment they say would treat women more fairly as they seek to come to the U.S. The immigration bill as it stands proposes a new merit-based point system based on employment in two skills categories. The first...

A group of female senators is planning to introduce a proposal Thursday that would ensure that more women would be admitted to the United States under a comprehensive immigration bill, representing an early attempt at leverage by the Senate’s emerging bloc of women. The lawmakers say pending immigration legislation is unfairly weighted toward...

Over since Congress abandoned its responsibility to provide Medicaid to Pacific islanders, Hawaii has been saddled with the bill — hundreds of millions of dollars in medical costs for migrants who have the right to live and work in the U.S. A proposal to remedy this problem is included in the comprehensive immigration bill before the U.S....

KITV captured Hirono's visit with Hawaii’s health care providers at the Kokua Kalihi Valley Comprehensive Health Care Center and listened as Hawaii health care experts explained how Hirono’s measure restoring Medicaid eligibility for COFA migrants would save the state millions each year. Earlier this month, Hirono persuaded her...

The Senate Judiciary Committee approved two more amendments to its immigration bill pushed by Sen. Mazie Hirono, including a provision that would allow illegal immigrants brought to the U.S, as children to be eligible for college financial aid. The panel, which is working through more than 100 proposed amendments to pass the sweeping reform package...

Saying the immigration overhaul bill now before the Senate would discriminate against future immigrants who are women, 13 female senators have introduced an amendment that would make it easier for foreign women to come to the United States under a new merit system in the legislation. The amendment is part of a new effort by supporters of the bill...

When Congress approved a sweeping welfare reform law in 1996, a small but important provision cost Hawaii millions of dollars a year. Pacific migrants who can travel freely to the United States from Micronesia, the Marshall Islands and Palau were no longer eligible for federal benefits — such as Medicaid, the health insurance...

HONOLULU (AP) -- The latest version of the U.S. Senate immigration reform bill restores Medicaid eligibility to migrants from three Pacific island nations in Micronesia. The Senate Judiciary Committee voted Tuesday to reinstate eligibility by adopting an amendment from U.S. Sen. Mazie Hirono. The Democrat from Hawaii says the move will save the...

The Senate Judiciary Committee Tuesday approved two measures introduced by Senator Mazie K. Hirono that she says will save Hawaii taxpayers millions of dollars. The two measures would save the state millions by restoring Medicaid eligibility for workers from Micronesia, Palau and the Marshall Islands and would fix rules that disproportionately...

 A US Senate committee has approved a bill that would restore Medicaid eligibility for migrants from Micronesia, Sen. Mazie Hirono said today. The measure, which now becomes part of immigrant reform legislation making its way through Congress, affects migrants from the Federated States of Micronesia, the Marshall Islands and Republic of Palau,...

In Saturday’s New York Times, the paper’s editorial board praised an immigration measure drafted by Senator Mazie K. Hirono and adopted by the Senate Judiciary Committee that would stop families from being torn apart at the border: Some good amendments passed, including one from Mazie Hirono, Democrat of Hawaii, that requires...

Among the 100 U.S. senators, there’s just one who is a first-generation immigrant: Hawaii’s Mazie Hirono (D), who was born in Japan and came to the U.S. with her mother when she was 8 years old. Hirono has spoken from a personal view during the immigration reform debate, noting that her mother brought her and her two...

A bipartisan group of Congressional lawmakers wants the United States to have a Science Laureate. Senators Mazie Hirono (D-HI) and Roger Wicker (R-MS) and Representatives Lamar Smith (R-TX) and Zoe Lofgren (D-CA) yesterday introduced legislation that would empower the president to select a "nationally renowned expert" who would "travel around the...

In today’s Honolulu Star-Advertiser, the paper’s editorial board highlights Senator Mazie K. Hirono’s fight for families as she works on immigration reform legislation: U.S. Sen. Mazie Hirono has rightly expressed concern about the Senate version's intent to "mitigate the harm to families caused by eliminating the sibling...

Hawaii will increase its marketing to China in light of two recent actions that promise to make the Islands more accessible to Asia’s largest economy. Hawaiian Airlines’ announcement that it will launch nonstop flights between Honolulu and Beijing in April 2014 put Hawaii on notice that it can expect many more visitors from China within...

The US Senate today confirmed Derrick Kahala Watson to serve as a judge for the US District Court for the District of Hawai'i. Watson becomes the sole native Hawaiian currently serving on the federal bench, and only the fourth in US history, according to Hawai'i’s congressional delegation who commended the announced confirmation...

SCHOFIELD BARRACKS — Hale Kula Elementary School was the first stop for U.S. Senator Mazie Hirono on her tour, here, April 3. Earlier this year, Hirono announced the school would receive a $26.6 million Department of Defense facilities grant, and she wanted the opportunity to see the school, learn more about the upcoming project, and meet...