OLYMPIA, Wash. — Standing steps away from rooms where life-changing laws could be passed, immigrants, refugees, and their advocates made the case for expanding health care and unemployment benefits to immigrants, regardless their immigration status.
“Where is the leadership of the state in making sure immigrants are taken care of?" asked Cataline Velasquez, executive director of the Washington Immigrant Solidarity Network (WAISN). "It costs more to not take care of immigrants when we are inundating emergency care services and lacking preventative care."
The calls for health care and unemployment benefits came in unison with asking legislators to help the ongoing refugee crisis in western Washington.
For weeks, KING 5 has reported on hundreds of Angolan and Venezuelan refugees who first ended up at a Tukwila church and then, a Kent hotel.
They faced continually deteriorating conditions at the church; the owners of the hotel had to set a deadline for them to leave. They were not getting paid, despite promises from the group that brought refugees there on Jan. 10.
The City of Seattle paid the Kent Quality Inn for one more week after refugees showed up to a public meeting on Jan. 30, begging for help. On Monday, the City of Seattle announced it would pay for a three-week stay at another hotel. Refugees shared that the location is in SeaTac.
“What happens after three weeks when the national government has shown no leadership and their work permits have not been expedited? It's going to be a problem," Velasquez said. They're asking for a minimum of $25 million to go toward building resources and providing housing for newly-arrived migrants, she said.
According to WAISN, Washington is home to 246,000 undocumented immigrants. Half of them are uninsured and live below the federal poverty line. Velasquez said help for those people would benefit everyone because immigrants are part of communities across the state.
"We're here and we're not going anywhere," she said.
There are mirroring bills in the House and Senate that would create a "wage replacement program for certain Washington workers excluded from unemployment insurance."
WAISN supports the bills as part of its legislative priorities for 2024.
The Health Equity for Immigrants Campaign is its other legislative priority. HEIC would provide equal access to healthcare for all low-income Washingtonians, regardless of their immigration status.