Migrants rally at WA Capitol for health care, unemployment benefitsFree

Hundreds of immigrants, refugees, and advocates rallied in front of Washington’s state Capitol in Olympia on Wednesday, calling on lawmakers to expand health care access and unemployment insurance for people lacking permanent legal immigration status.

The rally’s organizers, the Washington Immigrant Solidarity Network, are also asking the state to spend $25 million on housing, food and other support for migrants, including hundreds of asylum-seekers camped outside a Tukwila church. 

“We’re more than just a job permit,” said Catalina Velasquez, the organization’s executive director. “We also need health care. We also need a social safety net.”

Washington is home to around 246,000 immigrants who lack legal authorization to be in the U.S. While they have limited access to health care, about 46% are uninsured, according to data from 2018, compared to 7% of the overall population.

Beginning July 1, Washington will expand its Medicaid program, known as Apple Health, to cover eligible adults regardless of their immigration status. About 8,000 people will be included in the expansion, which will cost an estimated $49.5 million. The most an individual could earn in a month and still qualify for coverage is $1,677.

The Immigrant Solidarity Network is asking for a budget provision that would raise the qualifying income level for the program so it would cover up to about 25,000 people. The group is still working to estimate how much money that will require.

Washington does not provide access to unemployment insurance for immigrants without  documents required to work in the U.S. legally. House Bill 1095 and Senate Bill 5109 would create a separate “wage replacement” system for these workers.

“For every other workplace protection, people have the same rights no matter what their immigration status,” said Danielle Alvarado, executive director of labor rights group Working Washington.

“You have the right to get paid minimum wage, the right to not be retaliated against,” she said. “So there’s no reason why unemployment and our safety net should be any different.”

The unemployment legislation, which was reintroduced this year, has not yet received hearings. House Speaker Laurie Jinkins, D-Tacoma, said it’s “very likely” the bill will make it to a floor vote, either in the House or the Senate.

“This is your state Capitol,” Sen. Rebecca Saldaña, D-Seattle, chief sponsor of SB 5109, told protesters. “I hope that you will come again and we will keep fighting.”

This is the Washington Immigrant Solidarity Network’s seventh annual rally at the Capitol and the largest yet — about 400 people RSVP’d, the group said. Children and high school students were among the rally’s participants.

Recent migrants spoke through a translator at the rally, telling personal stories of why they came to the United States and the obstacles they overcame to arrive.

“I left my country, I left my home, and I am on my own,” said one migrant from Angola, Daniel Vingo, through the interpreter. “I was at risk of losing my life because of my political activities.”

Vingo is one of the migrants who lives outside Riverton Park United Methodist Church in Tukwila. Through the interpreter, he said it’s “really, really cold,” and that “it’s very hard to live this situation and just be quiet.”

Ahead of the rally, people danced below the steps to the Capitol and marched with signs calling for action on a range of other immigrant-related issues, including housing for refugees, the genocide in Congo and transgender rights.

On Tuesday, the Olympia City Council also signed a proclamation designating Feb. 7 as Immigrant and Refugee Advocacy day.

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