In a new policy brief, the Migrant Solidarity Mutual Aid Network (MSMAN) details the barriers to stability faced by migrant families living at DC’s Office of Migrant Services (OMS) shelters and provides policy and funding recommendations to overcome them. This brief comes just one month after OMS announced that they reached capacity at their hotel shelters and began denying shelter to migrants arriving in DC. As a result, around 30 families with young children have gone without shelter in the District.

“DC’s current system of serving migrants is based on the false premise that all migrants are planning on leaving the District eventually,” MSMAN writes in Residing but Not Residents: The Lack of Long-Term Support for Asylum-Seekers in Washington, DC. “With the end of Title 42, end of federal COVID relief funds and the looming housing crisis, the current, ineffective system of serving migrants must change.”

One year ago today, Governor Abbott of Texas sent the first bus of migrants from the southern border to Washington, DC as part of a publicity stunt aimed at Biden. In response, the DC community formed the Migrant Solidarity Mutual Aid Network (MSMAN), a group of organizations and volunteers dedicated to welcoming migrants arriving to the city. The Network stepped up in the absence of the local government and established non-profits — showing up to receive buses at all times of day and night, booking transportation, sorting donations, finding housing, and more. A year later, MSMAN continues to support the over 1,500 migrants who have chosen to make DC their home, as they continue to face federal and local barriers to resettlement.

On Jan 29, 2023 Mayor Adams evicted dozens of migrants from the Watson Hotel in New York City. Migrants were told they were being sent to Red Hook Marine Terminal, where the city opened a congregate shelter in Brooklyn. If migrants refused to go they could either sleep on the streets or be put on a bus to another city, following in Governor Abbott of Texas’ footsteps. Community organizations and mutual aid groups in DC, Chicago, and Philadelphia stand in solidarity with NYC migrant and mutual aid organizers resisting the Adams administration’s anti-immigrant policies.

On Thursday, October 20th, over 60 migrants and advocates testified in opposition to the Migrant Services and Supports Act as it stands. They made clear that though this bill is meant to support migrants bused to DC from Texas and Arizona, in reality it is deeply harmful and will have broad impacts on immigrants and refugees in DC. Title I of the bill creates the Office of Migrant Services (OMS). Glaringly missing from OMS’ mandate is any long-term support for migrants who choose to settle in DC. The migrants who testified on Thursday made it clear that they are not looking for special treatment — just the support and services they’re legally entitled to. In their testimony, many migrants highlighted the urgent need for housing and medical care, in addition to identification and documents to prove residency in the district.

On Tuesday, Mayor Bowser’s Migrant Services and Supports Emergency Act passed in the council, along with minor amendments introduced by Councilmember Nadeau. This legislation will create the Office of Migrant Services (OMS). Which, despite being housed under the Department of Human Services (DHS), will have an entirely “separate stream” of services for newly arrived asylum-seekers, but details of said services are minimal in the legislation and absent for migrants who remain in the district longer than thirty days. Additionally, Title II of the legislation passed this week includes provisions that specifically exclude migrants from accessing DC’s homeless services by amending the Homeless Services Reform Act (HSRA). “The Migrant Services and Supports Act reads like a bill introduced in May, not a bill written after five months of buses arriving in DC,” said Alejandra S. Sky, an organizer with the Migrant Solidarity Mutual Aid Network.

On Thursday, Mayor Bowser declared an emergency in response to migrants being bused to DC, which began five months prior. Since April, the Migrant Solidarity Mutual Aid Network, migrants, and activists have demanded the DC government step up to ensure all migrants are received with dignity. We call on the city to continue to meet our demands, including providing permanent housing solutions and legal services for those who choose to stay in DC.

“The mayor's response is the result of months of organizing and activism by the DC community. While we are happy to see Bowser take an interest in supporting migrants being bused to DC, she is five months too late,” said Bianca Vazquez from Beloved Community Incubator. “By abdicating their responsibility for so long, the DC government helped create this humanitarian crisis.”

On July 12th, organizers supporting migrants bused to DC from Texas and Arizona took their second day off in three months to 1) rest and recover after many months of mental and physical exhaustion, 2) quarantine after a significant portion of the volunteers were exposed to COVID-19 over the weekend, and 3) protest the unsustainable conditions created by the lack of government response.

“DMV area community organizations and volunteers have shown up every day for over three months to support migrants but we are exhausted, burned out, and do not have the resources that the government does,” said Madhvi Bahl, from Sanctuary DMV and Free Them All VA. “DC, a self proclaimed sanctuary city, has a Mayor that refuses to even acknowledge the migrants arriving in this city. It is time for Mayor Bowser to wake up, meet our demands, and provide the resources that our new neighbors so desperately need.”

For over a month Governor Abbott of Texas has been busing migrants from the southern border to Washington, DC as part of a cruel and racist publicity stunt. Since this began on April 13th, 2022, Texas has sent 35+ buses carrying over a thousand people, including children and infants. Last week, Governor Ducey joined Abbott and began busing people from Arizona as well. In response, DC community members have been showing up for migrants—receiving the buses at all times of day, sorting donations, finding housing, and spending around $90,000 to support them while the government does nothing.

“DC, a self proclaimed sanctuary city, has a Mayor that refuses to even acknowledge the migrants arriving in this city. It is time for Mayor Bowser to wake up and provide the resources that our new neighbors so desperately need.”