A little over a week after setting up an encampment in a Seattle city park, a group of migrants are being moved back to a hotel on the afternoon of May 6, 2024. A little over a week after setting up an encampment in a Seattle city park, a group of migrants are being moved back to a hotel Monday afternoon.
They’re going to be taken to a hotel in Kent. That’s the plan right now, but nothing is guaranteed until they get housing, so this is still sort of a temporary situation,” said Mohamud Mohamed, an community member who is helping the migrants. “I can’t imagine what they’ve been through. It’s not really over, but there are a lot of people helping that are part of the community.
“City parks are not intended to serve as makeshift shelters – lacking needed sanitation, security, and other safety-related amenities for those purposes. Camping in the park is not an appropriate, safe, or healthy shelter option for anyone, nor are its impacts acceptable for park-goers and neighbors,” Mayor’s spokesperson Karissa Braxton told KOMO News in a statement.
“This humanitarian crisis cannot be solved by the City of Seattle alone, and requires a statewide, systemic response plan to avoid the continued cycling of migrant families and asylum seekers in and out of short-term hotel stays and public spaces,” she said in a statement.