Washington immigrant rights advocates want the state to spend $25 million on housing, food and other services for asylum seekers, including hundreds living outside a church in Tukwila.
King County has allocated $3 million to house migrants camped at Riverton Park United Methodist Church. But Martha Lucas, program coordinator at Riverton, said cities and counties won’t be able to provide the kind of funding they need to support asylum seekers.
“We need the big dollars,” said Lucas, who also represents the Washington State Coalition of African Community Leaders.
The state funds advocates are requesting would go to the Office of Refugee and Immigrant Assistance to contract with nonprofit organizations that provide services to asylum seekers, such as food, housing, employment education and legal services. Funding would also support staffing so the office can coordinate a “statewide approach” to providing these supports.
Asylum seekers first started arriving at Riverton after a Seattle police officer asked the church’s pastor to house a migrant family at the church’s tiny house village for chronically homeless people in January 2023, Lucas said. Word spread from there, and the church’s asylum-seeker population eventually grew to around 500 people.
“Even prior to the media coverage, people would have [the pastor’s] number at the border of Mexico,” Lucas said.
Initially, aside from families finding their own way to the church, city officials were dropping people off, Lucas said. That’s stopped, but now, nonprofit groups are leaving families there, regardless of whether the church has space. Many groups just don’t have the funding to handle the influx of migrants, advocates said.
Gov. Jay Inslee’s supplemental budget proposal includes an additional $5 million for the Office of Refugee and Immigrant Assistance and $3 million for a grant program helping counties support newly arrived refugees and asylum seekers, a spokesperson for Inslee’s office, Mike Faulk, said.
For this funding to become available, the state Legislature will have to approve it before this year’s session ends on March 7. Faulk said any new money that is approved wouldn’t be available until summer.
The church has had utility expenses as high as $10,000 a month since the migrants arrived, Lucas said. The Seattle Times reported in January that it cost roughly $13,000 to move asylum seekers living at the church into hotels as the area faced below-freezing temperatures — and the church footed most of the bill.
Lucas said private donations have kept the church’s services afloat.
“It’s basically a lot of fundraising, crowd-funding…but [that’s] not really a plan for when those funds run out,” she said.
Advocates also said the funding is needed not just for the Tukwila church, but for migrants across the state who don’t have permanent housing.
“No one should sleep in a tent outside,” Lucas said.
— By Grace Deng, Washington State Standard
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This is why our borders being open is problematic. We have an influx of millions of people, who need to acclimate to America to enable them to work to provide for themselves. Americans are being taxed out of their homes, neighborhoods they grew up in. We have American Citizens living on the street, due to drug addiction, runaways, mental health and job loss. What are the costs for you and me to house and feed, people that are walking into our country and demanding housing? Our paycheck has shrunk with the inflation and taxes on everything we buy. Many of you have to be experiencing this, when you go to the grocery store as my family is. Politicians are calling the border crisis in Texas showdown a political stunt, but look at this story, and what happened in New York this week, officers attacked by immigrants. The attackers were arrested, released and hopped a bus to California. Is this what you want in your neighborhoods? This is not political, it’s financial for my family and your family. We need to solve our problems here for our people, our poor and broken. Jobs will be in the decline as AI replaces humans. If you you love your Country it’s time to vote to protect it. Don’t think Republican or Democrat think what is best American sustainability.
Thank you Denise. You are spot on!
In addition we are allowing folks into our country without any health screening. We require it for school attendance, military, and in many cases employment for our own residents. We may be in for a huge rude awakening when we see a rise in communicable diseases (TB, measles), many antibiotic resistant. Look at all the precautions, mandates, the government put in place during Covid 19 for U. S. residents. We shut down businesses, closed our schools and set back our students and future leaders by years. We laid off doctors, nurses, firefighters, discharged folks in our military who wouldn’t comply with government/Fauci vaccine mandates. Yet, we have opened our borders to all without any restrictions/screening, or requirements. The criminal element and mentally ill pouring into our country is yet another subject that is being ignored.
Imagine if you were standing in a long line whether it’s for banking, gas, retail, grocery shopping or a concert and someone or a group of people cut in line. Would you speak up? Those crossing our border illegally need to go back and get in line. Apply legally like the thousands whose court dates have been pushed back to allow line cutters priority. We cannot afford funding illegal unvetted border crossers when we have millions of Americans suffering homelessness such as veterans, mental health sufferers, drug addicts and the unemployed. Facing evictions. We need to take care of Americans first. Get back to enforcing the laws of this country and make the illegal border crossers get back in line to apply correctly to enter our country. Enforce our laws to deport the illegal border crossers who commit crimes like drugs & human traffickers, or those who assault our Law Enforcement Officers.
Mary,
Much of the increase in border traffic IS by people coming legally and requesting asylum. The US would benefit from improving our asylum courts so that the system does not take years.
And yes, if I am in a line and someone with children or mobility issues or who just looks like they need a boost is in line behind me I offer to let them go first.
Way Over 80% of Asylum seekers are denied entry on the sole basis of “Asylum” TBT
There is a large funded group coaching these people and even handing out leaflets telling them what to say.
These comments are starting to repeat themselves so the thread is now closed.
People, please have some humanity for the people who are in such desperate straits that they leave their homes, and walk thousands of miles to an unfamiliar place so that they can have a better life for themselves and their families. Surely, we can help many of the people? Health and safety screening, yes. Statistics show that immigrants typically have a lower crime rate than citizens. Significant parts of our economy depend on the available pool of cheap labor provided by immigrants.- make it easier to work here but return home. People who have the initiative and courage to make the often harrowing trip to come across the southern border could be an asset to our country. We should continue to provide increased legal pathways to immigrating and focus on reducing the chaos of illegal arrivals. Many immigrants from other parts of the world arrive by plane and overstay their visas- let’s crack down the on that as well.
Let’s remember that these are mothers and fathers, sisters and brothers, daughters and sons, families trying to make a better life,
You and all those speaking out for humanity should voluntarily go to the majority of illegal border crossers home countries to help them rebuild. Where is the outcry for demanding vaccinations and vetting of all unlawful border crossers? Where is the outcry for taking care of Americans first?
Judy I would ask how large numbers of immigrant labor help our low wage citizens demand higher livable wages? As a unskilled laborer I know how hard it is to ask for higher wages when you have hundreds or thousands that are willing to work for less. Not against immigration but if the purpose is to keep the price of your house cleaning or yard work or the price of your meal out low you are in effect diminishing the ability of people to get ahead. So controlled limited immigration that doesn’t flood a market with cheap labor is reasonable but what we have now only helps the rich and puts tax burdens on the middle and keeps the poor from achieving a better life.
I’m sure the Texas governor would be happy to send say 10 thousand, just to drop in the bucket literally, who crossed the border illegally to Edmonds with it’s caring citizens. What could possibly go wrong?
Brian sometimes I almost wish he would because these do gooders know not what they ask for. I got it let’s limit immigration to rich people willing to support them in their own houses?
Illegal economic migrants, gangs, drug and human traffickers, mentally and physically diseased, simply walking into our nation and demanding to be taken care of makes no more sense than if they walked into my home and demanded I take care of their every need. This is insanity and anyone thinking otherwise obviously does not understand this leads to national ruination.
If do gooders want to help the down trodden of the world, fine go do it. Just don’t bring them to my neighborhood and expect me to participate, because my caring is limited to family, town, nation, Period.
People are over running our borders because their own countries are corrupt and being run by drug cartels that profit greatly from all the illegal drugs many of us so happily purchase and eat like candy here; even if some of it kills us. They come here because they have nothing to look forward to in their own country except abject poverty and a good chance to be murdered or die of starvation; if they stay home. The idea that any socially significant amount of these people are criminals and mentally ill is totally absurd and little more than political propaganda from our Right wing zealots. These people are mostly just running away from the criminals and mentally ill people running their own countries. So what is the real answer(s) to solving this problem? Do you suggest we put our Army in all the border states and just shoot anyone coming across illegally? Our world is over populated with people running away from corrupt and cruel governments that are either Oligarchies, Theocracies or a combination of the two. So our answer to this should be to become the same government style that they are running from? Nonsense! Our House should pass the bipartisan Senate bill and give our current President at least a chance to control the problem.
Clinton our country can stem the flow with existing law but chooses not to do it, more money for government to process more immigrants is not a solution. You are right why would you want to live there when you can come here. I have no doubt the majority want to earn their way the problem is the cost of those that just want to take advantage of our good will and those that have worn out their welcome in their own country and come here to start taking advantage ou us, to add people that because of fiscal or mental disabilities who will never be contributing members but life long burdens from day one. But maybe that is the plan to justify greater social spending the problem is, it isn’t for our own citizens.
The current president has all the power in the world to close the border today and the GOP is begging him. Unfortunately his quest for new voters is more important
Judy, I understand your feelings about having compassion for people in desperate situations. I struggle with it too. But things are out of control and now it feels like them or me, my family and neighbors. It has to stop!! Everyone has a breaking point…even you.
Perfect responses Frank, Mary, Theresa and Denise. America’s huge problems need solving first. I’m really fed up with the handouts to non-Americans. Ms Judy McCoid – pull out your wallet and put your money where your words are.
I recall in 2013 being on a 14 day Eastern Europe Rick Steves tour. At one border crossing, I believe it was Croatia, we were met with four armed men carrying assault rifles with ammunition wrapped around their bodies. Our bus was held up for a very long time while all of passports and paperwork was checked and we were questioned. Why? Because they are a sovereign nation and protect their borders. Yet, our borders are wide open allowing folks from every country to cross and claim asylum. Approximately 8-9 million have crossed our borders since 2021 asking the American taxpayer to house, feed, provide healthcare, educate them, provide free cell phones….. They beat up our law enforcement officers, ( New York last week) and not charged or jailed. Within minutes of apprehending are released and walk away laughing and flipping us off!! Disgusting. Chinese are crossing into our country. Don’t you find that curious? China doesn’t allow their citizens to leave without permission. So who is China sending us and what is China’s intention?? Wake up America.
Amen
The border is being used by this current administration, as bargaining chip to get more money to fund a War, Ukraine. Basically humans, are being used as tokens, by our government. How humane is that? The trip to the USA guided by cartel brings violence such as beatings, starvation and rape and death. Every Country enforces the flow of new comers. This is not a political left or right theology, this is every Sovereign Country in the world. As soon as Texas started sharing president Biden’s immigration policy, Democrats started making a fuss, because now it was affecting their neighborhoods. The drugs coming over the boarder are Killing Americans. The people in this particular camp, were fed, laundered and cared for by a church. This particular group decided we want better than this, we came here for a better life, give it to us, and they want you and I to pay for it. The actions of our government will set a precedent, for others, as it does with some of the homeless, who want their lifestyle paid for. Advocates to help improve lives are different than advocates who enable homelessness and illegal immigration and their outcomes, which affect us. Close the border, protect our Citizens and potential newcomers from the negative consequences of failed policies. This administration admits it’s broken.