The Board of Directors for the Sound Cities Association (SCA) – of which the City of Des Moines is a member – issued a statement on Wednesday, Aug. 28, 2024 regarding King County’s policies on asylum seekers in our region.

The SCA statement shares concerns about the county’s approach to relocating asylum seekers between cities without consulting local governments. SCA is seeking greater consultation and coordination between King County and municipal governments, and criticizes the county for making decisions without notifying city officials.

“The statement demands from King County consultation and coordination between King County Government and municipal governments because King County finds its convenient to not consult with municipal governments when making decisions to move/relocate asylum seekers/unhoused people from one city to another,” Burien City Manager Adolfo Bailon told South King Media.

Bailon added that recently, King County orchestrated a large movement of asylum seekers from the City of Tukwila to the Cities of Seattle and SeaTac without providing any notice to local elected/appointed officials (confirmed by former SeaTac City Manager). 

The asylum issue in South King County has become a complex and contentious issue recently, highlighting the challenges of providing adequate support and housing for displaced individuals. In recent months, hundreds of asylum seekers in our region, primarily from Venezuela, Congo, and Angola, have found themselves moving between temporary shelters, hotels, and even encampments as local resources have been stretched thin. The situation came to a head in Kent, where asylum seekers set up camp next to a vacant King County-owned Econo Lodge, hoping to pressure officials into reopening the facility for housing. This has led to tensions between local municipalities, King County, and law enforcement agencies over how to address the encampment and provide sustainable solutions for asylum seekers.

The issue came to the forefront when King County recently moved a large number of asylum seekers from Tukwila to Seattle and SeaTac without prior notice to local elected or appointed officials. This was confirmed by a former SeaTac City Manager, according to Burien City Manager Bailon. Limited funding for shelters and hotels meant that many of those relocated to Seattle and SeaTac eventually became homeless again after being evicted due to exhausted program funds.

Bailon added that the former SeaTac official also reported that King County provided no additional support to the city following these evictions.

“To ensure the limited resources of our cities and non-profit organizations are best leveraged to address the impact of asylum seekers in King County, the executive leadership of our cities must be consulted at the beginning of any effort to find housing or services for this population in a given city,” SCA’s statement says.

“In this most recent example, King County failed to obtain approval from the City of Seattle and City of SeaTac when relocating unhoused people to their respective cities,” Bailon said. “It looks to me as though King County has a strong policy on ‘do as we say and not as we do.’”

SCA was founded in the 1970s to help cities act locally and partner regionally to create vital, livable communities through advocacy, education, leadership, mutual support and networking. The cities of Burien, Normandy Park, Des Moines, SeaTac, Tukwila, Kent and Auburn are all members.

Below is text of SCA’s full statement:

“A statement from Sound Cities Association on the Asylee crisis in Puget Sound.

“The members of the Sound Cities Association recognize the positive role that immigrants and those seeking asylum play in fabric of our communities. The multitude of cultures, ideas and perspectives brought by those from other parts of the world make our region, and the cities therein, stronger, more resilient, and adaptable.

“Concurrently, if these new members of our community are unable to seek employment, sign lease or loan agreements for housing and transportation, or are otherwise unable to access services for them or their families, neither these individuals nor our cities can map out a positive future in which they can thrive. Several cities in SCA’s membership are hosts to growing populations of asylees who are unable to secure the federal immigration paperwork necessary to become a thriving part of our region’s community. When organizations have stepped in to provide services and housing, they have chosen to move these populations into cities that are not prepared to meet these needs, with no previous conversations or coordination.

“Therefore, the SCA Board of Directors has established the following principles.

“Consultation and Coordination

• “To ensure the limited resources of our cities and non-profit organizations are best leveraged to address the impact of asylum seekers in King County, the executive leadership of our cities must be consulted at the beginning of any effort to find housing or services for this population in a given city.

• “Consultation with city executive leadership is critical to ensure that basic services can be provided at certain sites and to ensure that any known public service challenges may be addressed prior to occupancy.

• “This outreach would also offer a chance for coordination on non-public services and resources, allowing the asylee’s needs to be more adequately met.

“Engagement by the Washington State Office of Refugee and Immigrant Assistance

• “The legislature and the Governor have approved measures to begin addressing many of the issues faced by our cities. Specifically, the Washington State Office of Refugee and Immigrant Assistance has funding and direction to “coordinate statewide efforts to support the economic and social integration and basic needs of immigrants and refugees arriving and resettling in Washington.”

• “We strongly urge ORIA to provide an update to our cities on the progress they have made on this work, and to follow through with the direction to “coordinate with local, state, and federal government agencies and other stakeholders.”

• “We ask that ORIA act as the statewide coordinator on services for asylees.

• “We encourage the governor to include increased funding for ORIA in the proposed 2025-26 biennial budget.

“Federal Leadership

• “At the heart of this issue are the extraordinary wait times for asylum cases in the United States. 

• “SCA cities urge the Biden Administration, to take whatever executive action possible to shorten the timeline for asylum cases, which would enable our new residents the opportunity to seek work and begin their new life here in earnest.

• “Further, we exhort the Washington State Congressional delegation to continue working toward comprehensive immigration reform.

• “Finally, please exhaust all efforts to increase funding for asylum casework.”

King County Responds

We reached out to the office of King County Executive Dow Constantine, and received the following response from Press Secretary Amy Enbysk:

“The way we perceive this statement from the Sound Cities Association is not critical of the county but is simply stating actions that could be implemented to leverage better support for asylum seekers across the region.  

“At no point in this letter is the county explicitly criticized regarding the influx of asylee’s in the area. We do recognize that they are asking for better coordination and communication from the organizations operating in the area and doing the work to support asylum seekers. Furthermore, the county has coordinated closely with various cities in King County, such as Kent and Tukwila to organize support for asylum seekers.”