Migrants, Advocates Testify to Stop Migrant Exclusion from DC Homeless and Social Services

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. 

"With two children we had to migrate here to the US. We had no choice but to look for daily food for our children by coming to Washington DC. Madam Mayor, I would like to ask you if you would not do the same for your children and your family? Or would you let them starve to death?” asked Wilgeidis, a 21 year-old mother from Venezuela. “We request that we be given medical attention as a fundamental right through access to health insurance to which we can apply, as well as the opportunity to not be excluded and to have access to decent housing where our children can sleep peacefully and dream of the country of opportunities and values that celebrate life and not racism and discrimination.”

Advocates denounced the Title II provisions that would redefine who is considered a DC resident under the Homeless Services Reform Act (HSRA) by excluding many migrants from accessing homeless services and continuum of care in the District. They decried the fact that the bill would simultaneously create an alternative “stream of services” for migrants that doesn’t include any long-term housing support or wraparound services and exclude many migrants from accessing homeless services that are available to others. Advocates and migrants alike spoke out about the impacts this would have on asylum-seekers who were bused here from Texas and Arizona as well as countless immigrants who have lived in DC for years. 

“DC, as a sanctuary city, does not ask about immigration status for public benefits. Therefore, DC legislators and DHS employees have never had to understand the complexities of federal immigration law as they determine eligibility for life saving and sustaining resources,” said Bianca Vasquez, Co-Director at Beloved Community Incubator. “It would be a mistake now to start using immigration status as an eligibility marker for any District services, especially homeless services.”

Advocates also focused on the fallacious dichotomy between providing services for local DC residents and newly arrived migrants. Dozens of testifiers pointed out that excluding migrants from these services is not the answer. It is a fact that DC homeless services are chronically underfunded in a city that has a budget surplus of $500 million. Strengthening existing services would provide for all, they said, instead of promoting a false narrative of scarcity. 

“I can tell you from personal experience that advocating for the expansion of homeless services and supporting recently arrived migrants go hand-in-hand,” said Jennie Saldana, an organizer with the Migrant Solidarity Mutual Aid Network and volunteer with Ward 2 Mutual Aid. “By creating additional barriers to accessing homeless services, you are undoubtedly preventing the very people who are in desperate need of the services from accessing them.”

Witness after witness pointed out that the DC government has the means and resources to provide for all DC residents. They urged the city to live up to its values as a “sanctuary city” by removing the harmful provisions in the Migrant Services and Supports Act and inserting new provisions that outline long-term support for migrants choosing to make DC their permanent home. 

Juan Carlos, a father from Peru who was bused to DC from Texas said, "We want to support the development of the city, and have the skills and strength to do so. We would like the new migrant center not to see us as just another number, but as human beings who at this moment need an opportunity and not to continue stigmatizing and discriminating against us.”

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