Democratic Sen. Patty Murray aide questioned HHS about migrants sheltering in Seattle — and they never came
An aide to powerful Democratic Sen. Patty Murray raised issues with staffers at the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) about a plan to shelter migrants in downtown Seattle — just one month before the agency opted against the move, The Post has learned.
The aide, Kathryn Toomajian, blasted out an email to four HHS staffers on March 26, 2021, complaining that her boss had been blindsided by a plan to shelter migrants in the Seattle Convention Center.
“Is this in the works? How many children could be housed there?” Toomajian asked of the potential Emergency Intake Site (EIS) or influx facility in the email, exclusively obtained by The Post Monday.
“Does it make sense logistically to send children so far from the border for processing and a (hopefully) short turnaround time between referral and placement with a sponsor or in an influx or licensed facility?”
“[HHS Secretary Xavier] Becerra also mentioned hotels for [unaccompanied children] as the next step for dealing with the situation at the border. This is concerning,” Toomajian added. “Is HHS looking into placing kids in hotels? Under what circumstances?”
“I know that things are moving quickly and changing by the day and sometimes even by the hour, but it is unacceptable if HHS is considering an EIS in Senator Murray’s state and she had to hear about it through the grapevine rather than from HHS directly,” the staffer concluded. “We need a better heads up when sites are being seriously considered or formal assessments happening.”
The migrants were never housed in the convention center, with federal authorities who assessed the site citing “security concerns (downtown Seattle, too much ingress/egress) fire alarm evac would be into streets of downtown Seattle,” according to previously released details of the plan, titled Operation Artemis, that were first reported by the New York Times.
A spokesperson for the Seattle Convention Center also confirmed to The Post Monday that no migrants have stayed there at any point since March 2021.
Another possible shelter location, in suburban Bellevue, Wash., was also rejected following an assessment, according to the May 2021 Artemis plan.
The assessment does not cite the same concerns for Dallas’s KBH Convention Center or the San Diego Convention Center — both of which are also located in their respective city’s downtown area and became Emergency Intake Sites for several months in spring 2021.
The Post was also unable to find reports of unaccompanied children being housed in hotels in the Seattle area between March 2021 and the present, though they were sheltered at other facilities.
In April 2021, HHS was spending roughly $60 million per week of US taxpayers’ money to care for unaccompanied minors at its facilities nationwide, the Washington Post reported.
Murray, 73, serves as Senate president pro tempore — making her third in the presidential line of succession behind Vice President Kamala Harris and House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.). She also chairs the powerful Senate Appropriations committee and has held roles in Senate Democratic leadership for more than two decades.
“In early 2021, after being left woefully unprepared by the Trump administration, HHS quickly stood up new temporary shelters to house unaccompanied children,” Murray spokesperson Amir Avin told The Post. “Senator Murray has long worked to ensure unaccompanied children are housed in safe and appropriate environments until they can be placed with a family member and sponsor as quickly and safely as possible.
“Senator Murray’s priority is the safety and wellbeing of the kids in question—which is why her staff inquired to understand the details of the situation and ensure new Emergency Intake Sites, wherever they were located, were appropriate for kids and that Senator Murray receives timely updates from HHS. Senator Murray has and continues to support programs for unaccompanied children operating in Washington State.”
“Senator Murray, meanwhile, supports comprehensive immigration reform to ensure a fair pathway to citizenship as well as strong investments to ensure the safety of migrant kids, particularly unaccompanied children,” Avin also said.
HHS did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
The email from Toomajian was obtained via a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request from the American Accountability Foundation.
“This is stunning hypocrisy,” AAF President Thomas Jones told The Post. “Sen. Murray demands that Americans surrender their sovereignty and accept endless illegal immigration, but then privately refuses to live with the implications of her radicalism in her own backyard. She wants mass illegal migration but wants regular Americans to live with the consequences, not her. This kind of sliminess is precisely the reason most Americans are sickened by Congress.”
Murray has consistently advocated in public for greater access to asylum — sometimes putting her at odds with members of the Biden administration.
In March, she commiserated with city officials in another Seattle suburb, Tukwila, where hundreds of asylum seekers had camped outside a church after pro-immigration advocates had requested $25 million in state funds to house and feed migrants a month earlier, the Washington State Standard reported.
“Had a productive conversation with leaders from @CityofTukwila about how we can help asylum seekers get the support and resources they need. Everyone deserves shelter and security—and I will continue working with them to support their efforts,” Murray posted on X at the time.
More than 2,000 migrants have camped out at the Riverton Park United Methodist Church in Tukwila since 2022, the Associated Press reported, and the church has even used its own funds to place some families in nearby hotels.
Other groups of migrants have set up encampments near community centers or shelters.
Washington was one of a handful of US states to record an increase in its unauthorized immigrant population between 2017 and 2021, according to a Pew Research analysis, with an estimated 300,000 undocumented persons there.
Thousands of migrants are still being taken into custody every day along the southern border despite executive actions announced by President Biden last week aimed at curbing crossings.
New York City welcomed more than 95,000 migrants just last year — and has converted at least 121 of its hotels into shelters to make room for the influx.
