Seattle activists occupy city hall to demand housing for illegal immigrants, 6 arrested

The illegal immigrants from Venezuela and local activists marched on the steps of Seattle City Hall Tuesday afternoon and into the Council Chambers, chanting and demanding that city officials use police funding to fund temporary housing for them as the group is facing eviction from an area hotel.

Earlier this month, the City of Seattle agreed to pay for another three weeks of rooms for illegal immigrants staying at a Western Washington hotel, even though the location is not in the city limits.

Seattle City Council President Sara Nelson said during the meeting that the city has an obligation to taxpayers to provide housing for people in need in Seattle, like the area’s homeless, and that discussions about funding for illegal immigrants and refugee funding needed to happen at the county and state level because there are limited resources in the Emerald City.

In January, after the illegal immigrants protested outside of Seattle City Hall during a city council meeting demanding housing, Seattle Mayor Bruce Harrell paid for a week of hotel rooms for the group.

The illegal immigrants, enabled by local activists, have bounced around the area from Riverton Park United Methodist Church in Tukwila to various motels in the region before making a plea for help from Seattle.

According to SPD, Officers were called to Seattle City Council Chambers at about 2:55 pm Tuesday, as illegal immigrants and local activists filled the room to interfere with the session. According to Seattle Police, those who were part of the disruption were told to leave the chambers, but they refused and were told they would be arrested if they continued.

After being warned and refusing to stop, three men and three women were arrested for criminal trespass. One of the men was also charged with obstruction.

The six arrested are being booked in the King County Jail. A spokesperson for the city of Seattle told KOMO News the protestors caused the disturbance, not the illegal immigrant families. Many of the protesters left after security approached them.

The six who were arrested are well-known far-left activists in Seattle. They were identified as Aidan Carroll, Bennett Haselton, Jonathan Duyker, Lauren Olivia Kay, Rosario Lopez Hernandez, and Iris Jade Bordman.

Many others in the chambers left without any issues and the city council was able to resume the meeting after the arrests.

City Councilmember Cathy Moore said regarding the protestors screaming out in the hallway and banging on the windows of the chamber, “I physically feel threatened. We are shutting down the operations of our democracy because of a mob action and it is not to be tolerated.”

Seattlites praised the council for taking firm action against the activists. Until last year's elections, previous councils routinely let activists control meetings and the agenda.

However, the elation was short-lived. Shortly after they were arrested, the Discovery Institute's Jonathan Choe revealed that the activists were bailed out with the assistance of the controversial Northwest Community Bail Fund. The suspect in the shooting of a Washington State Trooper had been previously bailed out by the fund. Almost 52 percent of the defendants that the fund has bailed out since mid-2020 failed to appear for their court dates, compared to 22 percent of defendants who failed to show up and didn't receive the fund’s assistance.

One of the suspects, Bennett Haselton, was reportedly released before any charges were filed.