Migrants who were bused to D.C. by Republican governors and decided to stay local are facing difficulties in accessing local resources — including identification cards and health coverage — they told the D.C. Council on Thursday.

Those who testified described problems accessing Health Care Alliance — local health coverage meant to serve residents regardless of immigration status — even among families who are supposed to be getting case management at the city’s shelter hotels.

The testimony came as the District weighs how to receive migrants without overwhelming the local safety net. The Bowser administration’s proposed solution is a new office — which has been operating since the Council passed emergency, temporary legislation creating it in September — that focuses on offering services tailored to the needs of migrants.

But every group supporting the new arrivals that testified Thursday disapproves of that approach, because the legislation also makes migrants ineligible for homeless services and protections afforded under the Homeless Services Reform Act.

Migrants describe bureaucratic maze

Issi, a 33-year-old Venezuelan, told lawmakers she arrived to D.C. in April and struggled to enroll in Health Care Alliance because she could not prove residency. The insurance requires applicants to provide several documents or have a third party verify residency. Eventually, she was able to gain coverage and care after repeated visits to La Clinica del Pueblo, a D.C. health clinic that serves vulnerable communities.

“When someone helps you and fights for you — it makes all the difference,” Issi said in written testimony submitted to the Council. “The first time they treated me like all they wanted was for me to leave. When I went the second time — accompanied with a mutual aid volunteer, I was approved.”

La Clinica del Pueblo executive director Catalina Sol says the provider has experienced capacity issues as a result of COVID-19. La Clinica del Pueblo used to have support from the city to enroll people in Health Care Alliance, but government staff stopped coming to the center during the pandemic. Now the provider is unable to regularly enroll or renew individuals on a walk-in basis.

“Regardless of the current challenges of our health sector, we believe all immigrants arriving in our region deserve access to quality health care, and a system that supports their dignity and inclusion,” said Sol via email. She also sought to get connected to Issi to better understand her experience and make improvements to the clinic where needed.

Community of Hope, a D.C. health provider that primarily serves unhoused residents, is also struggling to enroll migrants in local programs because of residency requirements, a spokesperson tells DCist/WAMU.

Yefferson and Artimis, a couple who testified, described fleeing from Venezuela in part because they faced discrimination for being in a queer relationship. They settled on D.C. because they knew it to be a sanctuary city, Artimis said. While they are thankful for the help they both received, Artimis said their experience here is “mixed.”

Artimis struggled to get her hormones and HIV treatment when she first visited Whitman-Walker Health, she said in testimony to the Council and in a separate interview with DCist/WAMU. The D.C. provider, which focuses on serving the LGBTQ+ community, asked for ID and insurance, neither of which she has, which forced her to go a week without medication, she said.

When reached for comment, Whitman Walker executive director Abby Paige Fenton asked to be connected with Artimis because that experience “is not consistent with what we ask/need.”

Artimis is still trying to get an ID, insurance, and work. She and her partner do not have work permits, so they say they are being taken advantage of for jobs they are able to do under the table. Artimis says she is being paid $11 per hour as a dishwasher, below the city’s minimum wage of $16.10. “I’d like to see new migrants welcomed to Washington with open arms,” said Artimis. “I am not here to take anything from anyone. I just came to be here as well.”

Confusion, misinformation among service providers

Migrants families who are sheltered at hotels and supposed to have a case manager advocating for them have also run into problems accessing Health Care Alliance. Madhvi Bahl of Migrant Solidarity Mutual Aid Network and Sanctuary DMV said the Department of Human Services, the D.C. agency responsible for the hotels, refuses to verify residency for families. DHS did not respond to an emailed request for comment.

Victoria, a mother staying at one of the hotels, has one child and was pregnant when she arrived — but she lost the baby. Her efforts to get mental health care after everything she’s been through have been unsuccessful. “I experienced a lot of trauma on my journey here as a pregnant mother,” she said. “And then losing my baby as soon as we were here made it even harder.” Victoria also told the Council she would like to live closer to the school her child is attending here.

D.C. Department of Human Services Director Laura Green Zeilinger says the city is trying to address the obstacles migrants are facing, including supporting migrants with getting an ID, but the new office is still being set up. Zeilinger said Children’s National Medical Center is already enrolling families in Health Care Alliance at the hotels, but didn’t offer more specifics. Migrant support groups dispute that characterization.

Mariel Vallano of the Migrant Solidarity Mutual Aid Network says that Children’s National is not enrolling parents and that many are still taking their babies to the emergency room, even if they need primary care. Vallano shared with DCist/WAMU a Whats App conversation between herself and a parent, who said her family was rejected from coverage by insurance and received a bill from the hospital. Children’s National had not responded to questions about Health Care Alliance at the time of publication.

M. Felix Macareg, with the Migrant Solidarity Mutual Aid Network, told lawmakers of one instance where a migrant was denied domestic violence shelter. The legislation grants domestic violence survivors access to the services and protections of the Homelessness Act, but that isn’t always clear to those groups that serve survivors, Dawn Dalton, the executive director of the D.C. Coalition Against Domestic Violence, told the Council Thursday.

Aid groups call for changes to legislation creating new migrant office

Immigrant and homeless advocacy groups, along with faith members, have been offering support since the first bus arrived in April. They called on the D.C. government to provide adequate resettlement services to migrant, and to remove any exclusions in the permanent legislation the Council is considering.

Catholic Charities D.C., which is providing case management to migrants at hotels, testified against the legislation as written. “Receipt of services should be based on residence in the District and not on immigration status,” Sister Sharlet Ann Wagner told the Council.

Bianca Vazquez of the Migrant Solidarity Mutual Aid Network and Beloved Community Incubator told the Council she co-signed a lease for a group of young men who wanted to resettle here, absent other government support.

“The creation of the Office of Migrant Services is predicated upon the idea that ‘asylum seekers have unique needs.’ Yet the only vision for this office, explicitly stated and understood by those who created it, is to offer transportation out of D.C. and to exclude migrants who chose to remain here from continuum of care services,” testified Vazquez.

Zeilinger pushed back against claims that the government is not supporting migrants looking to resettle here, pointing to the 150 migrant families who are being sheltered at hotels and 100 childless adults at low-barrier homeless shelters. She said D.C. is not asking about immigration status at shelters for single adults, but is asking at the intake center for family shelters because migrants with kids are supposed to be housed at hotels.

“The homeless services system is lacking the capacity and appropriate services to adequately respond to the presenting needs of migrants,” said Zeilinger. “Without other resources for migrants, the homeless system will be overwhelmed and fail to adequately meet the needs of both long time district residents and those newly arriving.”

Council still sorting out path forward

The question before the Council now is whether to make the temporary legislation creating the office, which expires next year, permanent. Ward 1 Councilmember Brianne Nadeau, who chaired the Thursday hearing, says she is hesitant to remove exclusions if there is still an influx of migrants coming to D.C. because that would overwhelm the homeless system that she and advocates worked to shore up.

Anecdotally, both Zeilinger and Vazquez say there’s been a slowdown in arrivals, though it’s challenging to know if that will continue, because Texas Gov. Greg Abbott refuses to coordinate with municipalities. Abbott’s spokesperson tells DCist/WAMU the state sent over 195 buses carrying over 8,200 migrants to D.C. and declined to offer weekly data.

Zeilinger acknowledged the challenges with providing services, from facilitating IDs to offering case management, to anyone unhoused, regardless of immigration status. That’s why one of the functions of the new office, once it’s fully stood up, is to get migrants connected to services they need to resettle through contracted organizations, including obtaining IDs, and to also have a respite site to begin care, she said.

Zeilinger also said she couldn’t guarantee that migrant families wouldn’t be housed in congregate settings or that migrants could eventually enroll in housing subsidies if they reside here for several years, which are other major criticisms of the bill.

Nadeau asked critics of the bill at Thursday’s hearing whether lawmakers should let the temporary legislation expire. Advocates said they don’t want shut down the new office, but that lawmakers should remove the exclusionary language so migrants can access all services, including those for unhoused people.

Nadeau pressed organizers on how the city would pay for housing for everyone coming, to which organizers responded, it’s the Council’s job to figure that out.

This post has been updated to include comment from La Clinica del Pueblo.