WASHINGTON — Asylum seekers have arrived in the nation's capital by the bus load over the week from Texas and Arizona, with the most recent arrival happening Saturday morning.
For the second time in a week, migrants were dropped off in front of Vice President Kamala Harris' residence at the Naval Observatory.
As more migrants continue to arrive, seeking help, the question is what resources do they have available to them when they arrive in the District. In August, the D.C. Office of the Attorney General Karl Racine announced it would give $150,000 to local nonprofits to help with the migrant crisis.
“In a purely political stunt, the Governors of Arizona and Texas created an unnecessary, cruel humanitarian crisis that has left vulnerable migrants and asylum-seekers without basic resources and with nowhere to go," AG Racine said. "D.C. is at our best when we step up for our neighbors, which means providing food, shelter, and other basic essentials to people in need.”
WUSA9's VERIFY team has gathered details on where specifically the money went in efforts to help the migrants.
Source:
What We Know:
On Sept. 1, the office announced that six nonprofit organizations would receive Migrant Humanitarian Crisis Grants that would total $150,000 to support frontline efforts to critical resources such as housing, food, clothing, and transportation.
The organizations receiving grants from the Office of the Attorney General are:
- Friends Place on Capitol Hill was awarded $31,920 which helps to provide lodging, meals, essential supplies, and transportation support. Friends Place has hosted 380 migrants as of the beginning of September.
- Goods for Good was awarded $16,550 to help provide essential items and an expanded clothing pantry.
- Catholic Charities of the Archdiocese of Washington was awarded $32,280. The organization will host four in-person educational events that include trainings about orientation to life in the United States, immigration law, public transportation, and more resources.
- Ayuda was awarded $32,350 to help provide hygiene kits, backpacks, clothing, food, cell phones, and financial assistance.
- Central American Resource Center (CARECEN) was awarded $31,900. They send one staff member to meet buses arriving at Union Station two to three times a week. The staff members provide intake services and work as travel agents to purchase and coordinate outgoing travel.
- Father McKenna Center was awarded $5,000 that will help provide migrants with food, clothing, essential supplies, and outgoing transport.
To get the money to organizations as quickly as possible, the Attorney General's Office offered the funding under D.C.’s emergency non-competitive grant process, which under District law limits grants to $50,000 per organization.
A spokesperson for the office says they will re-evaluate the need for more funding at the start of the next fiscal year which begins Oct. 1.