Tukwila, Washington—

Even though the number of immigrants entering the United States each day has dropped since December, local communities are still scrambling to provide them with resources.

In the Pacific Northwest, Riverton Park United Methodist Church in Tachira, Washington, has become a haven for hundreds of asylum seekers from Africa and Latin America.

The church entrance was filled with chatter in Portuguese, French and Spanish as asylum seekers from countries including Angola, Congo and Venezuela gathered to discuss their immigration applications.

Eurice is a bespectacled woman in her 50s from Venezuela. She asked that her last name not be used.

“I don’t want to be a burden to America,” she said. “I didn’t come here to dream. Because of my job at the Colombian consulate, I was labeled a traitor. I worked all my life and instead of getting a peaceful retirement, I had to flee my country and walk through the jungle , across seven countries.”

She said she was happy to find refuge in the church.

“I thank God and the female pastor for providing me with a shelter, a bed to sleep on and a plate of food. I am already blessed,” she said.

Pastor Jan Bolerjack said that over the past year, Riverton had helped approximately 1,000 asylum seekers of all ages, including pregnant women and young children, find shelter, food and basic necessities. Some of them arrived on their own. Others were brought in by police.

“The Seattle Police Department found them in tents on the street and realized they were different from our normal homeless population,” Bolerjack told VOA. “So, they started bringing them here. To We went from zero to 100 people in March 2023 and 400 people by July. In October, the mayor of Tukwila declared a humanitarian emergency here. This is where we are now – Continued Do this for humanitarian emergencies.”

Unlike refugees who are eligible for resettlement services, asylum seekers cannot legally work until their work permit applications are approved, a process that can take months.

Bolerjack said her church has always kept its doors open to the most vulnerable members of the community, but with limited resources, staff and volunteers have been overwhelmed.

“We have to provide everything from food to laundry to bathrooms, showers, tents, sleeping bags, mattresses. Everything has to come from our friends and nearby sources,” she explains, walking through the church hall, which is packed with Suitcases and bags hung on the wall past donated mattresses, past a small kitchen where several young African women were cooking, and then past an area where volunteers sorted donated clothes.

“Somehow this place has been promoted across the country and across the border as a place worth visiting,” Bolerjack explained. “You know, I’m very proud of that. However, I was a little embarrassed when they arrived after a long and painful journey and we had to say, ‘You have to sleep in a damp tent.’”

During winter, when temperatures in the region drop below zero, hundreds of asylum seekers are temporarily moved from tents to local hotels. Some refused to return to the camps and asked lawmakers for help.

State Representative Mia Gregerson is working to improve the state’s response to the crisis through legislation to better coordinate immigration services. She told VOA in an interview at her office in Olympia, the state capital, that despite Tukwila’s tradition of welcoming newcomers, the community of less than 22,000 people should not be forced to shoulder this crisis alone.

“I think they’ve really rolled up their sleeves and gone for it,” Gregson said. “But there’s a lot of uncertainty. What are we going to do when the money runs out?”

She said processing asylum cases is often complicated by different immigration statuses within families. The bill she introduced with 18 co-sponsors seeks to empower the state’s Office of Refugee and Immigrant Assistance.

“The idea is that the office can be flexible and leverage resources quickly to not only get them into the system to get correct and factual legal advice, but also to quickly connect them with educational resources, transportation needs and housing vouchers,” Gregson said. “. “We need to stay connected to them so we can help them through the system. Otherwise, they may fall victim to other types of problems.”

Washington Gov. Jay Inslee’s current budget includes $5 million in new funding for the Office of Refugee and Immigrant Assistance to expand support services for new arrivals who are not eligible for federal refugee resettlement program services. Another request for $3.4 million is aimed at helping provide transitional and long-term housing supports for asylum seekers in counties surrounding Seattle.

Volunteers in Riverton help asylum seekers complete the required documentation in English. Only one person won an asylum application and received a work permit last year, Bolerjack said.

But this has not dampened the optimism of Jeremiah LeFou, who said he left Angola with his wife and three children in December 2022 due to insecurity in the country. They lived in Riverton for four months before being approved for a family shelter. The children attend local schools along with more than 100 young asylum seekers. Love was taking English classes and volunteering at the church.

“I feel good about the future,” he said. “Now, we need to help others just as the church helped us.”

Juris, who is from Venezuela, hopes to return to his country one day.

“My family is still there. I miss them,” she said. “I hope to stay here as long as possible for safety reasons, and I thank the United States for giving us this opportunity. But I believe that one day my country will be able to repair itself so that I can come back.”

Meanwhile, the Biden administration is advancing measures to make it more challenging for asylum seekers to stay in the U.S.