(The Center Square) – A year after a small church in Tukwila began taking in hundreds of refugees and asylum seekers, lawmakers are offering some major help in the form of $32 million in the supplemental budget passed by the Legislature this session set aside for new migrant arrivals in Washington state.
Many of the asylum seekers ending up in the Evergreen State have come from violence-plagued parts of southern Africa, including Angola, while others have left Columbia, Guatemala and Venezuela.
Tukwila Mayor Thomas McLeod addressed state lawmakers during a January public hearing about the crisis in his community.
“Since the spring of last year, a small church in Tukwila, Riverton United Methodist Church, has been the epicenter for asylum seekers coming to western Washington,” he said, noting several months later he declared a state of emergency in response to the worsening situation.
“We have individuals with children sleeping outdoors, and the city and
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