Stanwood, WA – In a blistering rebuke, retired Navy Master Chief and Stanwood City Councilman Chili Hicks condemned Representative Clyde Shavers (LD-10, Position 1) for voting to take unemployment benefits away from victims of rape, sexual assault, and human trafficking—and give those resources to individuals who entered the country illegally.
Senate Bill 5232 doesn’t add a single dollar to the unemployment budget. Instead, it divides the same pool of funds and adds a new category of recipients: illegal immigrants. The result? Fewer benefits for the people those funds were created to protect—American citizens, lawful residents, and victims of unimaginable trauma.
“Clyde Shavers just voted to take food off the table for a young woman who was kidnapped and sold into sex slavery—so he could send a benefits check to someone who broke our laws and entered this country illegally,” Hicks said. “That’s not just bad policy. That’s evil dressed up as progress.”
Hicks warned that the real-world consequences of this decision are devastating:
Survivors of trafficking and sexual violence who rely on unemployment benefits to get back on their feet may now find themselves denied.
Single mothers escaping abuse may have no financial cushion as they rebuild their lives.
Veterans facing job loss and mental health battles will be told to get in the back of the line.
“This is how people end up homeless,” Hicks said. “This is how women who’ve survived the worst things imaginable are pushed right back onto the streets—while Democrats call it compassion.”
Washington is already buckling under the weight of failed policies that have filled our streets with tents, needles, and crime. Hicks pointed to the state’s so-called “harm reduction” approach to drug use and homelessness as proof.
“We were told handing out free needles and decriminalizing hard drugs would save lives. It didn’t. It killed them,” Hicks continued. “Now, those same people are raiding the benefits system and taking from the most vulnerable among us to hand it to people who don’t belong here in the first place.”
The move is especially galling given the state’s ongoing budget constraints. No new funds were allocated for this expansion—only a redistribution of existing resources. For every illegal immigrant who receives a check, someone else is denied.
“This is not theoretical. A 19-year-old girl raped by a trafficker and rescued by law enforcement will now be told: ‘Sorry, there’s no help for you. We gave your benefits to someone who broke the law to be here.’ That’s the policy Clyde Shavers just supported,” Hicks said.
Hicks called SB 5232 the final betrayal in a long line of broken promises from Olympia.
“Democrats love to talk about compassion, but they deliver misery. They turn every noble cause into a disaster—and now they’re targeting the very people they pretend to protect,” Hicks said. “Clyde Shavers didn’t just cast a bad vote. He turned his back on victims.”
As a candidate for Washington State House in District 10, Hicks vowed to fight for the forgotten, restore moral clarity, and put Washington citizens first—especially those who have suffered the most.
“If you’re a victim of rape, abuse, or trafficking—know this: I see you. I will fight for you. And I will never let you be pushed aside for someone who doesn’t belong here,” Hicks concluded.
For more information on Chili Hicks and his campaign to restore justice and accountability to Olympia, visit www.hicksforwa.com.
###