Tag Archives: Immigrants

News

United Way Partners With WithinReach to Dispel Myths About SNAP Benefits

by Lauryn Bray

United Way of King County (UWKC) has partnered with WithinReach in their efforts to dispel myths and misconceptions regarding Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) benefits and who is eligible to receive them. Through their work, they have identified three areas that lead to common myths that deter eligible individuals from applying, such as concerns related to documentation status, employment, and not wanting to deprive others of benefits.

Continue reading United Way Partners With WithinReach to Dispel Myths About SNAP Benefits →
Arts & Culture

‘Voices of Resistencia’: Stories of Detention and Desperation Mark La Resistencia’s 10th Anniversary

by Agueda Pacheco Flores

On Sunday, March 3, students and friends of the University of Washington’s Center for Human Rights gathered at the Seattle Rep’s PONCHO Forum to hear their colleagues read the stories of former immigrant detainees and their families.

Continue reading ‘Voices of Resistencia’: Stories of Detention and Desperation Mark La Resistencia’s 10th Anniversary →
News

Annual Seattle/King County Clinic Returned to Seattle Center to Provide Free Medical Care to People From All Walks of Life

by Lauryn Bray, photos by Susan Fried

Thousands of people flocked to Seattle Center from Feb. 15 to Feb. 18, arriving as early as 5:30 a.m., to receive free vision, dental, and medical care at the annual Seattle/King County Clinic. The clinic, run by a team of about 3,000 volunteer medical professionals, interpreters, and support staff led by founder Julia Colson, has served over 27,000 patients over the last nine years.

“It’s really unbelievable,” said Chelsea Riddick-Most, director of programs and events at Seattle Center. “Patients start at Fisher Pavilion where they get a ticket. Our doors open at midnight but what we’ve seen is people start getting in line around 8 o’clock.”

Continue reading Annual Seattle/King County Clinic Returned to Seattle Center to Provide Free Medical Care to People From All Walks of Life →
Voices

OPINION | King County, Port of Seattle Must Demand Humane Conditions for ICE Deportation Flights

by Angelina Snodgrass Godoy

On Tuesday, May 2, ICE resumed its deportation flights out of King County’s Boeing Field. This is the shameful result of a federal judge’s ruling last month that despite known abuses on deportation flights, the County is not allowed to decline to participate in them, as it did when Dow Constantine issued an executive order in May 2019. (Since that time, deportation flights have been routed through Yakima.)

Continue reading OPINION | King County, Port of Seattle Must Demand Humane Conditions for ICE Deportation Flights →
Voices

OPINION | Finding Home in the Chinatown-International District

by J.M. Wong

On Friday, Sept. 30, my friends and I sent selfie photos of each other shopping at Viet-Wah, the Vietnamese-owned grocery store located in the Chinatown-International District. It was Viet-Wah’s last day of operations, and we exchanged our favorite memories of the place. It was nostalgic to listen to the music in the background amidst altars with joss sticks and offerings. When I arrived in Seattle in 2007, Viet-Wah was the one place that reminded me of home — they had spices and mixes for Malaysian and Singaporean cuisine. And most importantly, they had everything I needed for hot pot in one store. 

Continue reading OPINION | Finding Home in the Chinatown-International District →
Voices

OPINION | Domestic Violence Survivors and Immigrants Should Not Face Barriers to New State Tax Credit

by Judy Chen and Roxana Norouzi

When I sat down with Jane early last year, she had an air of nervous optimism. She was a mother of three, fresh out of a bad living situation, and badly needed a little cash to help pay for school supplies and formula. Leaning on friends and family had been hard, and I knew it was a big step to ask for help. Like every immigrant parent who comes to ask for support, I wanted nothing more than to tell her that getting help would be easy. 

Continue reading OPINION | Domestic Violence Survivors and Immigrants Should Not Face Barriers to New State Tax Credit →
Arts & Culture

Ricardo Ruiz’s ‘We Had Our Reasons’ Tells the Stories of Immigrant Workers

by Amanda Ong

The voices of a community are an incredibly vibrant thing, and nearly impossible to hold in your own hands and distill into words. But this is what Seattle-based poet Ricardo Ruiz does in his new poetry collection, We Had Our Reasons/Teníamos Nuestras Razones, which has recently been released for publication by Seattle publishing house Pulley Press.

Continue reading Ricardo Ruiz’s ‘We Had Our Reasons’ Tells the Stories of Immigrant Workers →
Voices

OPINION: There Are No Shortcuts

by Rosalinda Aguirre

I come from two generations of Mexican immigrants who picked cotton, harvested hops and beets, and labored on the rail lines throughout the country. Through my parents’ work, I met men and women who toiled day after day in the fields for minimal wages and without health care. It was one of my first introductions to social inequality.

Continue reading OPINION: There Are No Shortcuts →
Voices

OPINION: Spirit Returns 2.0 — Finding Solidarity at the Duwamish Longhouse

by Amanda Ong

“We were second-class citizens in our own land,” my grandfather used to tell me, perhaps the only time I saw him with a hint of a scowl. Our land then was Hong Kong, where Chinese residents were under British control for 100 years. As the original inhabitants of Hong Kong were Punti, Hakka, Tanka, and Hokkien, the island has always been ethnically Chinese. My grandfather seldom spoke about the marginalization my family experienced during their time in Hong Kong as a British colony and when he did, he was brief. When my mother was a child in the 1960s, our family made the decision to leave Hong Kong to be second-class citizens in another land, hoping for something called “opportunity.” 

Continue reading OPINION: Spirit Returns 2.0 — Finding Solidarity at the Duwamish Longhouse →
News

COVID-19 Outbreak at ICE Detention Center Continues

by Luna Reyna

As the delta variant spreads across the country, transfers to Northwest ICE Processing Center are spreading the virus to some of our state’s most vulnerable.

In 2018 the University of Washington Center for Human Rights (UWCHR) began collecting data on Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) flights with the assistance of Yakima Immigrant Response Network. These flights, also called ICE Air, were once carried out by the U.S. Marshals. Today, they are carried out by private businesses through private deportation contracts for ICE that are worth millions. According to Phil Neff, project coordinator for the UWCHR, the data revealed that nearly 600 people transferred to Northwest ICE Processing Center (NWIPC) in June 2021 — the most transfers from ICE Air to the facility since June 2014. With these transfers came the transmission of COVID-19, resulting in the worst outbreak of the virus the facility has ever seen. 

According to the Tacoma-Pierce County Department of Health, an outbreak is considered two cases within 14 days of each other. NWIPC reported 32 cases in under 14 days. According to ICE reports, each new case was a transfer from the southern border. “My understanding is that most of them are asylum seekers …” Neff explained. “Under human rights terms, asylum seekers shouldn’t be indefinitely detained.” This number has only increased since June. At least 150 people, including nine guards and one medical personnel, have tested positive. 

Continue reading COVID-19 Outbreak at ICE Detention Center Continues →