How WA plans to use $32 million to help asylum seekers

Washington officials are working to distribute around $32 million in state funding this year to aid asylum-seekers, as hundreds of migrants live in tents in the Seattle area.

Of the $25 million allocated to the Office of Refugee and Immigrant Assistance, $20 million will go to community organizations to create a statewide network to deliver coordinated support to migrants and asylum-seekers.

The state is using what’s known as a “hub and spoke model” for its Washington Migrant and Asylum Seeker Support Project. The refugee office is reviewing applications for one primary organization to act as the “hub” connecting new arrivals to the specific services they might need.

Those services should include immigration-related legal aid, housing and “culturally responsive case management services,” said Sarah Peterson, chief of the state Office of Refugee and Immigrant Assistance.

https://washingtonstatestandard.com/2024/06/14/how-wa-plans-to-use-32-million-to-help-asylum-seekers/