Seattle is scrambling to raise the $5,000-a-day hotel costs for 240 asylum seekers who overtook a school play area with tents and foreign flags in a takeover locals called ‘threatening.’.
Seattle City Council members say they’re working with Mayor Bruce Harrell’s office to find an emergency solution to the cadre of migrants who camped at Garfield Tennis Courts, part of a community center used by local schools.
A $50,000 donation has paid for the migrants and their children to return to the Quality Inn Hotel in Kent, but it’s not clear what they will do when the cash for 61 $70-a-night rooms runs out next week.
Council members say they sympathize with the migrants, but need to keep the ‘park clear and our schools safe.’
The migrants camped out on tennis courts and staged press conferences about their plight
The asylum seekers from Venezuela, Angola, and Congo said they had no choice but to take over the community center
Locals complain that the organized asylum seekers are ‘activists’ and that the tennis court takeover amounted to a ‘threat,’ stopping school sports practice and causing mounds of garbage.
‘It appears today’s action was a threat. Fund our hotel stay, or else,’ Washington talk radio host Ari Hoffman posted on X/Twitter.
‘The illegal immigrants previously demanded Seattle pay for the hotel stay. [The mayor and the city] gave in again and then finally said ‘No.’ Activists were arrested for protesting the decision.’
The US is battling a surge in migrants at its southern border who claim asylum and spread across the US, overloading shelter systems in New York, Washington DC, Chicago, Denver and now Seattle.
Migrants typically avoid confrontations with the public and officials, but the Seattle cohort appears more outspoken and organized, holding press conferences and raising flags for their group, Comunidad Sin Fronteras.
The organization, meaning ‘community without borders,’ pushes for officials to help asylum seekers get a roof over their heads.
Seattle’s migrant crisis has deepened since early 2023.
A popular shelter in Riverton Park United Methodist Church, in Tukwila, steadily filled and reached capacity last month, forcing Pastor Jan Bolerjack to turn away migrant families.
Hundreds of others have since January stayed at the Quality Inn Hotel, paid for by the city, King County and private donors.
Genesis Nava, who is from Venezuela, says she had to camp out on the tennis courts because other shelters were not available
Seattle City Council member Joy Hollingsworth said she needs the ‘park clear and our schools safe’
That money ran out this week, and the motel residents said they had no choice but to camp at the tennis courts.
Adriana Medina, one of the organizers of the group of migrants, who hail from Venezuela, Angola, and Congo, said there was ‘no other option’ but to set up camp on the playground on Tuesday.
Local charities brought water, hot meals and clothes to the camp.
The migrants took down the tents on Wednesday thanks to $50,000 from a mystery donor and headed back to the Quality Inn.
That money will run out on about April 13, posing tough questions about what they will do next.
Some have suggested sleeping at Seattle’s SeaTac Airport, despite the threat of trespass charges.
‘This is not a good condition for children to be in,’ one of the Venezuelan migrants told local media.
‘They’re missing school, they’re being traumatized, and our city officials are not listening to us.’
A Congolese asylum seeker complained they now lived ‘with our clothes in our bags, and our toothbrushes.’
A Venezuelan boy plays with toys on the tennis courts of a community center
One of the asylum seekers here wears a Venezuelan flag from their pants
Council member Joy Hollingsworth said her ‘heart goes out to the migrants and asylum seekers’ but that the ‘health and safety’ of long-term residents was her top concern.
She called for extra funding to tackle the crisis.
‘We need our community center open, the park clear and our schools safe,’ Hollingsworth said.
Locals have complained that the youth baseball and tennis teams were affected by the migrant camp.
‘This issue is bigger than Seattle,’ Hollingsworth added.
‘Our county, state, and federal governments need to help address the crisis from our southern border to our city doorstep.’
Asylum seekers can’t legally work and earn money to pay for housing while they wait months for the federal government to approve work permits — leaving newcomers to rely on handouts.
Washington state has allocated nearly $33 million for asylum-seekers, but much of the money is tied up in the legislative process and will reportedly not be available until the next financial year begins on July 1.