Late Sunday afternoon, dozens of migrants boarded King County Metro busses and started the next leg of their journey. It’s unclear exactly how many people moved, but pregnant women and families with small children were prioritized for this first round of departures from Riverton Park United Methodist Church.
Prior to this, there were nearly 400 asylum seekers staying on the church property in Tukwila. After nearly a year of hosting migrants, 911 calls to the camp have gone up significantly with city leaders saying this is stretching public schools and the already-challenged homelessness support system in the region.
The group, made up of mostly Angolans and Venezuelans, were all smiles. Across the language barrier, you could see the sense of relief in their faces.
“The county is housing them at a hotel,” Pastor Jan Bolerjack says. She would not share where the migrants were being taken, but volunteers working with the migrants say they ended up at the Doubletree Hotel in Seatac just a few miles away.
I reached out to King County Executive Dow Constantine’s office for an update but did not hear back. Sources say they’re looking at a regional approach to address the migrant crisis and want nearby cities to take some of them in. It’s unclear when or where the rest of these men, women, and children will be moved.