SEATTLE — An anonymous donor paid for a 10-day motel stay in Kent for asylum seekers who were told to set up camp at a Seattle park.
A group of 140 people seeking asylum, mostly from Venezuela, say their encampment in the park was a last resort.
Families, including children from Venezuela, Angola, and the Republic of Congo, lived on the tennis courts near the Garfield Community Center.
Among them is mom Linda Karen, who says she never thought she’d leave Venezuela – let alone come to Washington state.
“It’s no secret that our country (Venezuela) is in crisis right now – well, so, we left our country to find a better life,” she said in Spanish.
This recent move to a tent outside the Garfield Community Center was the latest in a decision she says she had no say over. She’s now among the 140 people, many of whom are seeking asylum in the United States, who were staying in a King County subsidized motel in Kent—and had been since January of this year.
She says they were forced to leave after being told the funding ran out.
They are now moving back into the motel for 10 days.
“Right now, we’re asking the government to help us; don’t close the door on us. The Venezuelan is a worker. There are competent men here who know how to work. Women here who can work hard,” Karen said in Spanish.
The City of Seattle says they are turning to the state for guidance on both shelter options and funding, citing a newly passed $30 million package of statewide legislation for migrants and asylum seekers.
“When we come to the streets because we don’t have anywhere to go, we have the City of Seattle telling us we can’t be here, so I want to ask people, where do we go? Where do the families go?” said Rosario Lopez, an advocate with the group Super Familia.
A question that, at least for now, no one has an answer for.
“When we get our permission to work, we’re going to work because we’re fighters,” Karen said.
In a statement, King County says they are aware of this migrant camp in Seattle and say they are weeks away from announcing how a newly allocated $1 million in funding will help asylum seekers and refugees.