Two children rescued from violent homeless encampment near Seattle

Two children were rescued from a county-enabled homeless encampment in Burien that has become a haven for drug use, sex trafficking, and a revolving door for criminals on government property near Seattle. 911 calls have spiked from the encampment in Washington’s most populous county, that is located right next to a courthouse and ironically, approximately 50 yards away from the county sheriff's department.

What’s worse is the encampment may have been established by county officials as punishment to a Washington city that dared to want to enforce its own laws. Earlier this year, Burien's city council approved a new ordinance which prohibits people from camping on public property from 7 pm to 6 am if a shelter or treatment facility has space available. The order also outlaws daytime camping and prohibits homeless encampments within 500 feet of locations such as parks and schools. Homelessness is so prolific in Burien that in 2023, the city's July 4 parade had to be detoured around encampments.

However, King County Sheriff Patti Cole-Tindall, a political appointee of Democratic King County Executive Dow Constantine responded by ordering her deputies not to enforce the ordinance and sued Burien over the law. In response, Burien filed a countersuit against King County and the King County Sheriff's Office for breaking its contract to provide police protection for the city.

Following the US Supreme Court’s Grant’s Pass ruling, which allowed municipalities to clean encampments, the sheriff still refused to enforce the camping ban, despite the landmark ruling giving the go-ahead. Shortly thereafter, the encampment appeared in Burien on county property and very quickly a fence was erected around the property. Burien officials alleged the move was an intentional attempt to antagonize them.

Burien City Councilmember Linda Akey told Jonathan Choe, senior fellow for the Discovery Institute, that the people in the encampment “are being used as political pawns.” Akey added that the county was “turning a blind eye to it (the encampment) again and again and again.”

Choe confronted Executive Constantine about the encampment, and he denied he set up the blight on the community but told the journalist, "we expect over the course of the next few weeks for that group to get smaller and eventually have everyone housed."

Constantine also claimed homeless nonprofit REACH is helping people get out of the encampment, calling it "an organization that has done quite a bit of work with the homeless in Burien."

Emails obtained by Choe revealed that county crews began putting up the fencing in May after Burien City Manager Adolfo Bailon asked the county what was going on. At the time, Constantine’s office claimed in an email, "The temporary fencing is to ensure the parking lot at District Court continues to be available and open for staff and Jurors at the court." Then in July, a permanent fence was installed by the county, further infuriating Burien officials who felt as though they were being kept in the dark.

However, in a different email, Deputy Executive Shannon Braddock gave a totally different explanation, claiming that "The fencing that is being installed will help to protect the storm water system," and denying that the county had anything to do with setting up the encampment.

Burien Mayor Kevin Schilling said county leaders are responsible for the mess. "We know they did," he told Choe. Burien officials claim that King County Sheriff's deputies directed the homeless to the county’s property as the lesser of two evils so they would not camp all over the downtown core, but still refused to enforce the city’s camping ordinance. 

The encampment “needs to be cleaned up and the sheriff's office needs to start enforcing the camping ordinance, that's the only way to make it happen,” Schilling added, noting, "This is taking way too long. this has now become a serious public health issue." As for Constantine’s claim that REACH is still the homeless outreach provider for Burien, a letter obtained by Choe showed that the city cut all ties with the non-profit in March because the group failed to effectively perform its duties. Instead, the contract was given to Kristine Moreland’s organization, The More We Love, which recently rescued the two children found in the encampment.

Moreland told The Ari Hoffman Show on Talk Radio 570 KVI, that the encampments “are breeding grounds for violence and our youth and our women and children are our most vulnerable and they're being attacked in these encampments.”

She continued, “There was a council member who did drive by, saw two young children in a kind of a wheelbarrow type situation where they're being pulled along” near the encampment. Moreland found the mother inside and was able to get the family into a hotel while long-term housing options could be worked out. Moreland told Hoffman that the optics King County is putting out with the encampment are “We are going to provide you everything that you need to live in an incredibly violent, dangerous area, and we're not going to protect you should anything happen to you.”

She added, “The people that live in those encampments, most are telling us ‘we do not want to be here.’ This is scary. We have women being kidnapped into here. We have gang rapes happening. They are incredibly vulnerable. That messaging is dangerous. And then there's people who just take advantage of that messaging ‘Oh, look, it's next to the King County Sheriff's Department. They're selling drugs in there. They're trafficking. This is okay. We can do that.’ And it continues to perpetuate that problem.”

On August 14, during a town hall for the 34th District Democrats, Constantine finally admitted that King County allowed the encampment to stay instead of enforcing the Burien's camping ban. He claimed that the campers would be moved out in 4-6 weeks.