By The newspaper
07 Jun 2024, 02:19 AM EDT
In a grassy lot near one of the city’s freeways in Seattle are 240 asylum seekers who have set up camp waiting for authorities to follow through on their threats to arrest them, or if officials can house them in an empty hotel that It is located near their camp.
“It’s very difficult,” a 29-year-old Congolese man, who is among those spending day and night in tents, told The Associated Press in French. “There is not enough to eat. There is not even a way to wash ourselves,” he declared.
Concerned about Biden’s measure
The tents, which are covered with tarps, stand in a field in Kent, a Seattle suburb. The migrants highlight the tension they face despite being so far from the US-Mexico border.
Well, their fear is due to the measure implemented this week by President Joe Biden, which attempts to restrict asylum and neutralize immigration, after the arrival of thousands of migrants trying to seek a better life in US territory.
The Seattle area had not seen an influx of migrants, but according to the AP, more than 2,000 asylum seekers have flocked to a suburban church in Tukwila since 2022, after they learned it was willing to help.
The church has made room for hundreds of immigrants to stay every night, and has raised money to place families in tent motels when the cold hit in the winter.
They are pressing to open the hotel
Many of those camping in Kent are mainly immigrants from Congo, Angola and Venezuela, who had already stayed in motels, but were evicted. And while waiting for permission to work in the United States, they set up camp in front of a disused Econo Lodge hotel.
“We want to pressure the county and the city to open the hotel to this group of immigrants,” said the same information agency, Ian Greer, a volunteer with a coalition of immigrant services organizations that help asylum seekers.
Their intention is to pressure the county and the city to open the abandoned hotel and be able to accommodate immigrants seeking asylum, and have better conditions of hygiene and protection, instead of being outdoors risking their health and even their lives. life.
“It’s not just about opening doors and turning on lights.”
“We understand asylum seekers’ motive for using the hotel on a short-term basis, but the reality of doing so is much more complicated than simply opening the doors and turning on the lights,” said Kristin Elia, spokesperson for the County Executive Office.
The 240 asylum seekers who are in the camp, near a highway, are aware of the announcement that Kent police published about evicting them from the land within 48 hours, since they do not have permission to be on property controlled by the county.
The police did not evict them from the camp
Although the 48 hours had already expired in recent days, the authorities did not arrive at the camp to evict the migrants, which gave them a break in the hope of finding shelter.
The AP reported that the state’s Office of Refugee and Immigrant Assistance will begin awarding $25 million to nonprofit organizations and local governments to develop a statewide network to support newly arrived immigrants.
With information from AP
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