‘All are welcome’: Snohomish County celebrates World Refugee Day
Published 12:43 pm Sunday, June 14, 2026
LYNNWOOD — More than 100 community members celebrated World Refugee Day on Friday with food, performances and speeches at Edmonds College’s Brier Hall.
World Refugee Day takes place each year on June 20. It was first celebrated in 2001 to celebrate the 50th anniversary of the United Nations 1951 Refugee Convention, which internationally recognized refugees and outlined their legal rights.
Friday was the county’s fifth annual World Refugee Day celebration, said Van Dinh-Kuno, executive director of Refugee and Immigrant Services Northwest. It gets bigger each year, and the organization may have to find a bigger venue next year, she said.
“Hopefully, this tradition keeps going for 10 years, 20 years, 30 years and into the future,” Dinh-Kuno said.
Friday’s featured several cultural performances, including the Yolihuani Aztec Dancers, Shoya Kai Karate of Seattle and lion dancers with Mak Fai Kung Fu Club. Community members served homemade food from 11 different countries, from Mexican tamales to Vietnamese egg rolls and Micronesian desserts.
Every minute, 20 people leave their country to escape war, persecution or terror, according to the United Nations. Between 2021 and 2025, Snohomish County helped resettle more than 6,000 refugees, including more than 2,600 from Afghanistan and Ukraine, according to Refugee and Immigrant Services Northwest.
The celebration came at a tense time for immigrants and refugees in the United States amid the Trump administration’s immigration crackdown. This year, Refugee and Immigrant Services Northwest chose a location with multiple entrances and exits in case immigration enforcement arrived, Dinh-Kuno said. For 2026, the Trump administration set the refugee admissions cap at 7,500, the lowest in the nation’s history. In 2025, the cap was 125,000.
“This year, it’s more important to let the community know that we have sizable refugees in the county,” Dinh-Kuno said. “The people in our community, they’re very generous, they’re very caring and they’ve been helping refugees arrive here for many years.”
Elected officials from across the county were in attendance, including Lynnwood Mayor George Hurst.
“Let us continue to send out these ripples of hope, so we can sweep down the wall of oppression,” he said, referencing a quote by Bobby Kennedy, “and remember we are here to celebrate World Refugee Day, and we must be allies and partners for those who seek a safer, better and more secure life. I am committed to that cause. The city of Lynnwood is where all are welcome.”
Snohomish County resident Patrick Giap was one of many refugees who attended Friday’s event. He arrived to the United States in 1975 following the Fall of Saigon. He was 23 when he arrived in Washington, and he was able to go to school and become a licensed dentist.
“Today is a time to look back and appreciate what this country is all about,” Giap said. “This country is great, not because it’s a strong country, but because of its people. The American people are so generous, open and they have opened their home to welcome us as refugees.”
Jenna Peterson: 425-339-3486; jenna.peterson@heraldnet.com; X: @jennarpetersonn.
