Analysis | Migrant Services and Supports Act of 2022 Summary and Issues
I. Background
A. WHAT IS THIS BILL?
The Migrant Services and Supports Act of 2022 (B24-0992) is meant to support migrants bused to DC from Texas and Arizona, but in reality it is a deeply harmful bill that will have broad impacts on the DC immigrant community. This bill contains two parts:
Title I creates an Office of Migrant Services (OMS), under the Department of Human Services (DHS), and defines its function:
OMS will greet buses, help people move on to their final destination, provide temporary shelter and services.
Title I does not outline any support for people who settle in DC long-term.
Feeds into the narrative the Mayor has used since day 1 that no one is staying here.
It also gives the Mayor broad power to determine eligibility, with little oversight or recourse for exclusion.
There's no plan for after 30 days, no plan for hypothermia season, and no plans for families that arrive with intention to stay in DC.
Title II amends the Homeless Services Reform Act (HSRA) to redefine who is considered a resident by excluding migrants:
The goal of this section is to exclude asylum-seekers from accessing homeless services and continuum of care.
It does so by:
Removing certain documents from being used to determine residency.
Adding a section on who is considered to be in the district temporarily.
Which includes people in removal proceedings and many others.
Adding a stipulation that asylum-seekers who access OMS services will not be granted residency in the same manner as those who do not.
It also has broad implications for other migrant communities.
These two titles together 1) create an alternative “stream of services” for migrants that doesn’t include any long-term housing support or wraparound services and 2) exclude many migrants from accessing homeless services that are available to others. This impacts migrants bused here from Texas and Arizona, as well as those arriving in other ways and immigrants who have lived in DC for years.
On Sep 20th, the DC Council, at the behest of the Mayor, passed the Migrant Services and Supports Emergency Amendment Act (B24-0990), despite strong condemnation by groups who have been supporting migrants bused here since April. On Oct 4th, they once again ignored advocates and the community, and passed the Temporary Act (B24-0991) that will last 225 days. On Oct 20th, the Committee on Human Services will have a hearing on the permanent bill. After five months of inaction, rushing these bills through without adequate review is deeply problematic. The Migrant Solidarity Mutual Aid Network (MSMAN) fundamentally opposes excluding people from access to homeless services and from establishing residency based on immigration status and national origin.
B. WHO DOES THIS BILL IMPACT?
This bill will exclude migrants who were bused here, as well as many who were not, from accessing homeless services, including:
Anyone in Section 240 proceedings, until every appeal is completed.
Which includes asylum-seekers and most undocumented folks.
Removal proceedings can take up to 10 years, migrants would be excluded from services the entire time.
Anyone paroled into the country under section 212(d)(5) of the Immigration and Nationality Act after January 1st, 2022.
This would include everyone who was bused here and any other recent migrant who found their way to DC after this date.
An amendment to the temporary bill changed this date to April 1st, 2022, but the permanent bill still has this date. It is deeply problematic either way.
Anyone who has an immigration appointment, proceeding, or interview occurring after Jan 1st, 2022, at an office or court outside the District.
All ICE/ISAP appointments are outside the district. The Washington ICE field office is in Chantilly, VA. So, this excludes everyone in immigration proceedings.
An amendment to the temporary bill removed this provision, but it is still in the permanent bill.
It is important to note that even if someone had any of the documents required to prove residency under HSRA, like a utility bill, they would not be considered a resident because of their immigration status.
C. WHAT ARE THE CONSEQUENCES OF THIS BILL?
Migrants bused here, and others, will be excluded from accessing homeless services like
Wrap around services. For example:
Being connected to housing, childcare, medical care options
Getting essential supplies for infants, like diapers, formula, and medicines
Transitional shelters and permanent supportive housing
Emergency shelter during hypo- or hyperthermia seasons and domestic violence (DV) shelters and services
While low barrier and DV shelters are not required to ask for proof of residency for access they are also not barred from doing so.
If a migrant is not given access based on residency requirements, they will have little success challenging that decision because Title II explicitly excludes them from DHS services.
DHS will be required to ask about immigration status for public benefits, which they didn’t do before.
Long term residents could lose access to DHS services, including eviction prevention, if there is a change in their immigration status.
This lack of support will make it difficult for migrant families to put down roots and move out of the hotels they’re living in, or for others to find housing at all, trapping them in a cycle of poverty.
D. COMMON PUSHBACK AND OUR RESPONSES
Allowing migrants to access homeless services would collapse the system!
If this really is the case, then it is an argument to invest more into homeless services! Instead, Mayor Bowser and the DC Council have chosen the path of exclusion.
Currently, there is space in DHS family shelters to host migrant families, but they are instead being housed in hotels.
Why should migrants be allowed to “jump the line” ahead of longtime unhoused our housing insecure folks, especially Black DC residents?
We are asking for equal access to services for migrants, not preferential. We want migrants to have access to the same services available to everyone else.
We are NOT asking for migrants to be prioritized over long-term unhoused folks in DC. Given that length of time of homelessness in DC is one of the main priorities for permanent supportive housing, it is unlikely that recently arrived migrants would “jump the line” anyways.
DC must invest more funds and resources into the existing systems and allow equal access to those systems for all. We have the money, what we need is the political will.
E. OUR RECOMMENDATIONS
No exclusion of migrants residing in DC from accessing DC homeless services.
No separate residency requirements for migrants under Homeless Services Reform Act (HSRA).
Long-term resettlement support for migrants who choose to stay in DC, including access to transitional shelters, permanent supportive housing, and wraparound services as outlined under HSRA.
More oversight over the Office of Migrant Services, specifically around eligibility, including an appeals process and recourse if determined ineligible. As well as minimum health and safety protections for OMS shelters and respite.
Keep DC healthcare alliance as a document that can be used to prove residency under HSRA.
II. Detailed Breakdown of Issues by Line
Here we break down the Migrant Services and Supports Temporary Amendment Act of 2022 (B24-0991) because the temporary legislation has been amended and will soon be law. The permanent bill, however, has not been amended yet. So, the public hearing will technically be on the original version of the bill. In our breakdown we have included and highlighted the problematic and harmful provisions that were removed in later versions of the emergency and temporary act but still exist in the permanent bill.
Title I:
Line 22: The Mayor may establish an office and administer programs to provide time-limited services and supports to recent immigrants to the United States.
OMS has no plan or mandate to provide long-term support for migrants who choose to settle in DC.
Line 35-41: (a) The Mayor may establish eligibility criteria, including statutory, regulatory, or programmatic categories of immigration, means of entering the District, and length of time in the United States or the District to receive the services and supports contemplated by this title.
(b) No provision of this act title shall be construed to create an entitlement (either direct or implied) on the part of any individual or family to any services and supports provided under this title.
Broad power to determine eligibility given to the mayor. No recourse or appeals process for migrants who are deemed ineligible. Migrants are not entitled to any of these services.
Line 43: Services and supports provided under this act title shall not be considered Continuum of Care services under the Homeless Services Reform Act of 2005.
None of the OMS services shall be considered homeless services under HSRA Continuum of Care.
Line 63: Shelter, which may be provided in a congregate or non-congregate setting
Families with young children may be housed in congregate settings which is unsafe.
Line 86: The Mayor, pursuant to Title I of the District of Columbia Administrative Procedure Act, approved October 21, 1968, may issue rules to implement the provisions of this title.
Broad rule-making power given to the mayor, without any minimum health or safety standards for OMS shelters and services outlined in the bill.
Title 2:
1) Amending Section 2(32)(A) - D.C. Official Code § 4-751.01(32)
a) “Resident of the District” Definition: Sub-sub-paragraph (A)(ii)
Line 111: “Sub-sub-paragraph (A)(ii) is amended to read as follows: (ii) Is living in the District voluntarily and not for a temporary purpose and who has no intention of presently moving from the District…”
Important for when they define in the District temporarily below.
Line 116: Sub-sub-paragraph (A)(iii) is amended by striking the phrase “public assistance from the District” and inserting the phrase “public assistance from the District, other than assistance through the DC Healthcare Alliance,” in its place.
Since migrants are going to be eligible for healthcare alliance they have removed it as a document that can be used to prove residency.
b) Defining who is in DC temporarily & therefore not a resident: New sub-paragraph (C):
An individual or family shall be deemed to be in the District temporarily and shall not be considered a resident of the District if the individual or family:
Line 124: (ii) Are waiting to report to an immigration office located outside the District or waiting to participate in an immigration interview or other immigration proceeding that is scheduled to be held by an office or court, or other tribunal or fact-finder, located outside the District.
All ICE/ISAP appointments are outside the district. Washington ICE field office is in Chantilly. The other closest field office is in Baltimore. So, this essentially excludes everyone in any immigration proceedings.
An amendment to the temporary bill removed this provision but it is in the permanent bill.
Line 128: Were paroled into the United States after January 1, 2022, under section 212(d)(5) of the Immigration and Nationality Act.
This exclusion from homeless services will apply to all new asylum-seekers in the district not only ones who are bused here and has no end date.
An amendment to the temporary bill changed this date to April 1st, 2022. The issues persist despite the changes.
Line 137: Have been issued, after January 1, 2022, a notice to appear in a proceeding to be held under section 240 of the Immigration and Nationality Act, approved June 27, 1952 (66 Stat. 182; 8 U.S.C. § 1229a), until the completion of their immigration proceedings, including any appeals.
Implies that migrants can’t become residents while they (or potentially their family) are in removal proceedings which can go on for years. This will affect a vast number of migrants, not only the folks who came on buses.
An amendment to the temporary bill changed this date to April 1st, 2022. It is deeply problematic either way.
2) Amending Section 7(c)(3)(B) - D.C. Official Code § 4-753.01(c)(3)(B)
Line 141: is amended by striking the phrase “or asylum” and inserting the phrase “or asylum, except for a person who is eligible to receive shelter under Title I of the Migrant Services and Supports Emergency Act of 2022,” in its place.
HSRA originally states that an asylum-seeker would be considered “a resident of the District without receiving demonstration of District residency in accordance with § 4-751.01(32).”
It now excludes anyone who has received services from OMS from being considered a resident under this provision.