Today Mayor Murray and the Seattle City Council released a joint statement calling for a resolution to the Somali remittance crisis. Murray underscored the importance of addressing this issue: “Shutting down these accounts has had a devastating effect on thousands of Somali-American families in this country and their loved ones back home.”

The resolution calls for the Seattle Office of Immigrant and Refugee Affairs (OIRA), the Office of Intergovernmental Relations, the City Attorney’s Office, and the Finance and Administrative Services Department to look for local options to restart legal and transparent money transfers, with the help of local banks and credit unions.

The resolution lists many reasons why these remittances are so important: Somali women have difficulty accessing traditional business funding, Somali children (one in five of whom doesn’t live past the age of 5) depend on them, they prevent the local Somali community (especially new immigrants) from being isolated from their relatives and their home country, and local Somali residents are vital to the Seattle economy.

It is heartening to see our local politicians move forward with solutions in light of the federal government’s slow response. As Council Member Mike O’Brien says, “Hard-working members of the local Somali community are supporting their families here in Seattle as well as loved ones back in Somalia by sending money back home. We must find solutions to ensure there are safe, secure ways for these remittances to continue to flow from Seattle.”