There Are No Buyers, And It Makes Sense To Me

‘We’ll have brokers who are about to close a deal, touring a client, and something will happen on the street nearby and tenants will reconsider’

At least you aren’t criminalizing poverty Howie.

Laid-off federal workers in WA face uncertainty, tough job search

In Washington state, the fallout from the Trump administration’s widespread cuts to the federal workforce are reverberating. Officials still don’t have a clear picture of the scale of the layoffs — and many former federal workers are struggling to land on their feet.

“It’s a giant mess,” said Rebecca Howard, a former research biologist with the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration who was fired in February, rehired under a court order in March, then fired again in April.

Like many former federal workers, Howard is still looking for a new job. She said funding cuts have made it difficult to find research work.

“It’s definitely been a struggle because my career kind of evaporated with this,” Howard said.

Howard’s worried not just about her livelihood, but also her research and the future of marine biology. She doesn’t want to leave the country, but she’s considered it. As legal challenges over the mass firings continue to play out in the courts, Howard and thousands of other government workers are in a state of extended limbo.

“It seems exceptionally cruel for reasons that I don’t think any of us really understand,” Howard said.

In April, the state continued its online outreach with a virtual job fair connecting former federal workers with employers in city, state and county governments. Dennis Jaska, a former fisheries observer at NOAA, is one of the fired federal workers who attended.

“It was good to see who was hiring in the area, but as you can well imagine, I’ve already applied to a lot of those different agencies,” Jaska said. “There’s just been so many people looking for jobs, I think it’s just really hard.”

When Andrew Shutes-David applied for unemployment benefits this spring, he didn’t check the box identifying himself as a federal employee. But he’s still among the workers affected by federal cuts.

Shutes-David had worked with the Veterans Affairs Puget Sound Healthcare System for more than two decades, helping write grants and review regulatory guidelines for research into health issues like PTSD and dementia. He was technically employed by a private contractor, but the government still paid part of his salary. He worked on a two-year contract that was renewed every year without issue.

In December, Shutes-David received a letter telling him his contract would be renewed once again. Then, one day after Trump’s inauguration, he received another letter informing him that the offer was being rescinded because of a “freeze on the hiring of federal civilian employees as directed by President Trump.”

Despite his decades of experience with the agency, Shutes-David was still considered a new hire because of his contract renewal. He was shocked.

“It felt very stable,” Shutes-David said. “I knew that I was valued by my colleagues and co-workers, and it seemed like such important work that we were doing. I wouldn’t have imagined someone thinking that we should put this work in jeopardy.”

Shutes-David spent the next few months in limbo as his supervisors at the VA tried to cut through the red tape and find a way to bring him back.

“For my family, the ambiguity of not knowing what was going on was really tough,” he said.

In May, the VA changed their policies regarding the hiring freeze. After jumping through more hoops and changing the way his job was classified, Shutes-David was able to secure another contract. He said he’s glad to be back doing the work he cares about, but is unsure how long it will last. At the VA, rumors of future cuts are swirling.

“It’s stressful for me, and then also it just seems stupid, like no other word for it,” Shutes-David said.

https://www.cascadepbs.org/politics/2025/06/laid-federal-workers-wa-face-uncertainty-tough-job-search

Deported by Trump, Guatemalan immigrant urges others to not give up on dream

JUAREZ, Mexico – Fernando Rustrian Herrera had been a fixture at suburban Houston construction sites up until a few days ago. He had an apartment that he shared with friends and often set aside part of his pay so he could wire money to his mom and grandmother in Guatemala City.

But on a recent morning, a team of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents stopped the vehicle carrying Rustrian and coworkers as they approached a construction site.

“Immigration is coming to the worksites a lot. There are checkpoints in every city. They didn’t get me at work; they got me at one of those checkpoints. We were undocumented, so they sent us back,” he said.

Sitting in the classroom of a migrant shelter in Juarez this week, the 18-year-old man described the environment of fear and uncertainty undocumented immigrants are living in U.S. cities these days.

“I had my apartment in Houston and saw raids. I saw people with residency and those who didn’t have residency deported,” he said. “Some with (court) papers were told to go to court and deported. They all wanted to be (in the U.S.); it’s hard to get there and they throw you out from one day to the next.”

Juarez officials say some 1,500 migrants remain in government and church-run shelters with possibly an equal amount renting rooms or apartments in this sprawling Mexican border city of 1.5 million people.

They say U.S. authorities have deported about 3,000 Mexican nationals through Juarez since President Donald Trump took office on Jan. 20. But they say few third-country migrants like Rustrian are being expelled through here. Most are being flown to southern Mexico or to their countries of origin.

“They generally come in very sad because they had been in the United States for a long time. They had jobs, they possibly had homes and properties. Some even started businesses in the U.S., and they were doing well,” said Enrique Serrano, head of the Chihuahua Population Council that runs Juarez’s Migrant Assistance Center.

Serrano said the Mexican deportees know the land and the dynamics. They quickly find ways to settle here or go back to their families in the interior of Mexico. But third-country migrants face difficult choices.

“Those who remain here from other countries – and could not cross (before Trump) – are in a sort of limbo. They see no possibility to enter illegally like before, nor legally, either,” Serrano said.

A Mexican CURP, or work authorization, is needed to deduct payroll taxes, get tax credits, and a bank account is required for employees to receive electronic payments. The migrants’ and deportees’ remaining option is the so-called informal economy.

“They are street vendors, they work in small shops in Downtown and other places where they are paid cash,” Serrano said.

Rustrian has no plans to return to that environment and encourages other recent deportees and asylum-seekers stuck on the Mexican border to not go back, either.

“If you already made the trip, why go back? Going back is a waste of time and money. My opinion is that they stay where they are. The dream is not over just because you couldn’t cross,” he said. “You must persist and work hard wherever you are. Here I am in Juarez, trying to get ahead – little by little but for sure.”

Unlike many migrants who abandoned their Mexican humanitarian documents when they crossed the border wall under the Biden administration, Rustrian opted to hang on to his Mexican privileges.

“My plan is to work. I have my (documents) ID from Mexico, so I can go anywhere here. I want to establish myself in Mexico while the waters (in the U.S.) get calm,” he said.

https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/us/deported-by-trump-guatemalan-immigrant-urges-others-to-not-give-up-on-dream/ar-AA1GsT2J

Fear is the daily reality of being undocumented in America

YAKIMA, Wash. — First light finds James already deep in his routine. He heats up tortillas and sprinkles cheese on top of them. Makes coffee, seemingly at the same time.

A quick breakfast and a check of the weather later, he’s out the door for work. It’s around 6 a.m.

James is undocumented, so the simple task of going to work carries a risk. Before he starts driving, he does a quick Sign of the Cross. One wrong encounter with immigration enforcement is all it would take for him to lose everything.

I’m afraid… when I see the cars that look similar to ICE,” James said.

For years, fear lived in the background. Now it rides shotgun everywhere James goes.

Across town, Loretta, also undocumented, keeps busy while she waits for her work permit to be renewed. She bakes cakes and crochets purses and scarves for people to buy. When she does have her work permit, she works at a warehouse nearby.

Rosa, Loretta’s daughter is a U.S. citizen. The two are inseparable and live next door to each other. Every day, Rosa worries about her mother. What would happen if Loretta were to be deported to Mexico?

“It’s going to be like a home without the family,” Rosa said. “It’s a really hard thought.”

“What she said is sad,” Loretta said with tears welling up in her eyes. “Going over there is sad. I’m going to miss them. They’re my kids and not being there with them, just thinking about it– it’s sad.”

“I hate to say it, but I feel guilt for being a citizen because I cannot help my mom,” Rosa added. “If she goes– that’s it. It’s just her. Am I going to sit here and watch them take [her?] What right do I have? It’s very, very hard.”

James’ family fears the same thing. He supports his sister, nephew and two nieces. His nephew doesn’t hesitate to say that James is like a father figure to him. With so much to lose, the family has had many difficult conversations.

“Having to explain to my kids that at any moment, that everything might be over,” James’ sister said. “They’re going to have to say bye to everything.”

“I’ve lived here since I was six years old, I’m practically raised here,” Loretta said. “If I go to Mexico, I know I’m going to feel bad because I don’t know their cultures– I don’t know nothing. I’m going to be like a stranger over there.”

For James, Loretta, and thousands of others, each day is a step toward hope. A hope that one day, their dreams and contributions are recognized, and living in fear will no longer be part of the American experience.

“Not only for me, all the immigrant people, for all the United States, I come to find my dreams,” James said.

https://www.krem.com/article/news/community/undocumented-immigrants-fear-deportation-america-washington-yakima/281-931a11c0-f1f8-4c3d-a866-56bea029c0c1

Two More Asylum Seekers Arrested at Portland Courthouse, Bringing Total to Four

U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents arrested two more asylum seekers outside Portland Immigration Court this morning, bringing the total arrests in the past week to four, according to federal court records. Within hours, U.S. District Judge Michael Simon ordered ICE not to remove the two detained people from the state of Oregon.

The two men arrested Tuesday are citizens of Ecuador and Venezuela, respectively. In petitions for writs of habeas corpus filed with Simon, lawyers with the Innovation Law Lab say both men appeared for their immigration hearings in downtown Portland and were arrested outside the courtroom after their cases were dismissed.

That matches the tactic used in two previous arrests of Mexican nationals seeking asylum last week.

The first person ICE arrested in Portland this month, a 24-year-old transgender woman from Michoacán, Mexico, is currently in solitary confinement in a Tacoma, Wash. detention facility, because she would otherwise be housed with male detainees and feared for her safety, according to documents filed by her attorneys.

The woman, who lived in Vancouver, Wash. is identified only by her initials OJM. Her case is the furthest along of the four now open: Lawyers with the Innovation Law Lab have sued the feds on OJM’s behalf and are asking U.S. District Court Judge Amy Baggio to order her release on bail.

In a response filed with Baggio, federal immigration lawyers say OJM is receiving due process, and that ICE is reviewing whether OJM has a credible fear of violence if she is deported. In a statement given to her attorneys, OJM says she fears she will be killed in Mexico.

“I cannot believe this is happening to me,” she said. “I came to the United States to be safe and free. When I arrived to Oregon, it was the first time that I have felt that I belonged anywhere.”

https://www.wweek.com/news/courts/2025/06/10/two-more-asylum-seekers-arrested-at-portland-courthouse-bringing-total-to-four/

‘It’s not uncommon for a buyer to get a home for 5% less than the list price and $10,000 in seller concessions. That’s why it’s important for sellers to make sure their home is in tip-top shape. We’re frequently recommending sellers do a lot of cosmetic repairs and maintenance to get buyers’ attention and stand out from the crowd. And of course, don’t overprice’

That’s the spirit Tim, demoralize the loanowners!