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Asylum-seeker coverage roundup
Monday, Nov 6, 2023 - Posted by Rich Miller * The Tribune reports on homeless people staying at police stations with asylum seekers…
In theory, maybe that would work, although they are two very different populations with much different levels of need. In practice, the homeless person profiled in the Tribune’s story has been sleeping at a police station for two months. * I don’t disagree with Greg Hinz’s take here, but I think the mayor first needs to give a speech like this to himself and his top staff…
The mayor seemingly can’t even convince himself to make big decisions and then make them stick. * Isabel’s coverage roundup… * ABC Chicago | US Rep. Jonathan Jackson calls for rest of Illinois to step up as more Chicago migrants arrive: Calling on the rest of the state to step up to the plate, Jackson took the opportunity of his quarterly town hall meeting to address the growing migrant crisis that continues to divide both residents and elected officials. “President Biden will be in Chicago this coming Thursday. I’m sending him another letter sharing with him the heightened concerns that we have,” Jackson said. * Tribune | Homeless Chicagoans also living at police stations alongside migrants: While many of the migrants at the station come from Venezuela, the Wilsons had only come from a few miles away. The language barrier was just one more thing that separated her and her son from the migrants they slept alongside at the police station. It is unclear how many homeless U.S. citizens like the Wilsons are staying among the nearly 2,800 migrants awaiting shelter placement in Chicago police stations. A spokesperson for the city’s Office of Emergency Management and Communication said it only tracks the number of asylum-seekers, and officials with the Department of Family and Support Services did not respond to a request for comment. The Chicago Police Department said they do not track how many U.S. citizens are sheltering with them. * Tribune | As temperatures fall, the number of sick children sleeping outside of police stations increases, migrant advocates say: “Duele, Duele. It hurts, it hurts,” he cried out shaking as his parents, José Urribarri, 48, and his wife Linda Bello, 28, wrapped him in multiple blankets and squeezed his little body between them. The cold Tuesday evening brought the toddler to new levels of desperation, and his parents rushed him by foot to a nearby health clinic. * Crain’s | Chicago developer Mike Reschke proposes suburban hotels to house migrants: Reschke was one of several prominent Chicago developers, along with representatives from AmTrust Realty and the Building Owners & Managers Association, who met with city officials for an Oct. 12 discussion to provide ideas on how to shelter migrants arriving in Chicago from the southern border. Those officials included city of Chicago Chief Operating Officer John Roberson; Deputy Mayor of Business Kenya Merritt; and Deputy Mayor of Immigrant, Migrant and Refugee Rights Beatriz Ponce De León. As of Nov. 3, 11,727 migrants filled the city’s 24 shelters and another 3,228 were waiting at police stations and airports across the city, according to the Office of Emergency Management & Communications. * Block Club | Northwest Side Police Officer Collecting Bilingual Books For Migrant Children: Officer Jesus Magallon began the initiative in the spring, and is looking for more partners to help collect and donate books to families staying at shelters, police stations and in tents. * Bloomberg | Denver Migrant Shelters Swell As Cities Plead for More Federal Aid: Federal aid for an influx of asylum seekers into US cities is essential to prevent homelessness from getting worse, said Denver Mayor Mike Johnston. The nightly migrant population in the Colorado city’s shelters has doubled since September, and their care is costing the city $2 million a week, which could mean spending $100 million next year. “That’s half the size of the entire city budget for affordable housing and homelessness citywide,” said Johnston. To manage new migrants, he said, “we think we need a different solution.”
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- MidwesternWorker - Monday, Nov 6, 23 @ 1:19 pm:
I hate to say it, but Lightfoot or a Rahm/Daley type would have just pushed through shelters by now and not cared about backlash from one group or another, and we’d have people off the streets.
- Just Me 2 - Monday, Nov 6, 23 @ 1:19 pm:
Half of the Mayor’s cabinet is still operating on “interim” basis. Maybe the Mayor should start focusing on governing and less on photo ops.
- Rich Miller - Monday, Nov 6, 23 @ 1:22 pm:
===less on photo ops. ===
He barely even does those.
- NIU Grad - Monday, Nov 6, 23 @ 1:25 pm:
Heck, a photo op wouldn’t even hurt at this point. Maybe he should be on the ground with some of the non-profits doing the work to show his appreciation. The media is working overdrive to dehumanize migrants. It wouldn’t hurt to have a story of him having conversations with families about their long journeys to Chicago.
Instead, he’s hiding under a rock.
- Oswego Willy - Monday, Nov 6, 23 @ 1:33 pm:
After the mayor decides on a new floor leader (it’s just wow)
The mayor needs (needed, geez) to formulate a workable plan that addresses the needs of human beings that also includes safety, shelter, health, and nutrition… have it where the impact and imagery shows Chicago “capable and in charge”, not dealing or coping but actively working through thoughtful steps.
Get alderpersons on board. Gotta get buy in, gotta get a united front as best you can with all the allies you can muster. Show strength in the unity. Show the power of unity to the plan.
Keep running tabs. Put deep pressure on DC, enjoin with the state, call on DC to more funding by not complaining… but actually and literally “bring receipts”
So much of ALL of that shoulda already been done, but if Johnson needs to “start again”… start here.
===The mayor seemingly can’t even convince himself to make big decisions and then make them stick.===
That’s what I hope would be what I wrote above.
“Do something tangible”
- Oswego Willy - Monday, Nov 6, 23 @ 1:39 pm:
Also?
Welp, Johnson needs to come to learn this;
Mayors need not be feared or loved to govern, but the must be respected by showing leadership and building consensus… then doing the work, owning it, and following thru.
I’ve seen none of this from the 5th floor.
None.
- JS Mill - Monday, Nov 6, 23 @ 1:39 pm:
Hinz is right. The city is playing right into the hands of people like the Texas governor who are only doing this to pimp the libs.
- DuPage Saint - Monday, Nov 6, 23 @ 1:40 pm:
FEMA bought 145,000 trailers two and three bedroom for hurricane Katrina. It would seem to me FEMA could deploy those or buy more for this human tragedy and coming winter
Has any politician looked into that
- Rich Miller - Monday, Nov 6, 23 @ 1:43 pm:
===FEMA bought 145,000 trailers two and three bedroom for hurricane Katrina===
My mom mentioned those yesterday.
That hurricane was a very long time ago, however. And they were contaminated with formaldehyde https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2015/08/28/fema-trailers-brought-shelter-problems-katrina-victims/71342988/
- NotRich - Monday, Nov 6, 23 @ 1:47 pm:
Amateur hour will only get worse. CTU running the City into the ground much like they have their union.
- Formerly Unemployed - Monday, Nov 6, 23 @ 1:54 pm:
Brandon Johnson’s plan was to get elected and then give teachers raises. Let me explain this in terms he might understand: teachers won’t get raises without buy-in from the public, and one way to get buy-in is the take care of the humanitarian crisis unfolding around us.
- levivotedforjudy - Monday, Nov 6, 23 @ 1:59 pm:
This is so interesting because I am hearing aldermen and community folks who have never, ever voiced much concern about the homeless population in Chicago now talking about how critical it is. FYI - a high percentage of the homeless are veterans. I wonder if Johnson knows judo and can use this situation to address homelessness, affordable/public housing and the refugee issues?
- Stephanie Kollmann - Monday, Nov 6, 23 @ 1:59 pm:
I visited people in the trailers in Homestead.
Nightmare conditions.
As the tents will be. As the police stations are. As many of the brick and mortar shelters are. Congregate “care” is anything but.
Census says IL had 150,000 more people a decade ago…but it’s impossible to find actual housing for new arrivals? Doesn’t add up.
The fact is that some in government would rather **pay more** to “contain” people in ostentatiously miserable conditions (like the megatents) than deal with the political fallout of simply providing housing to people who need housing.
It’s cruel and pathetic.
- Tinman - Monday, Nov 6, 23 @ 2:01 pm:
We need federal help with this situation, and it needs to be a coordinated response from both the city and state. The mayor needs to step up with the governor and talk about how they will address this . Also they shouldn’t put too many migrants into one neighborhood. That is going to lead to all sorts of backlash . But having a coordinated plan is what people need to hear. Right now its just reactive not proactive.
- illinifan - Monday, Nov 6, 23 @ 2:01 pm:
The good news of all this is it is making the public aware of the needs of the homeless. Homeless persons have always hung out at police stations especially in the cold as they are warming centers. They also go to county buildings and state offices as these too are warming centers. It is just the volume of persons that is getting the attention focused on a need that has existed for a long time.
- Amalia - Monday, Nov 6, 23 @ 2:02 pm:
FEMA mention correct DuPage Saint. what are the Feds doing, specifically the VP? and yes, Daley and Rahm woulda handled it. But where is Toni? why can’t the County step up?
- DisappointedVoter - Monday, Nov 6, 23 @ 2:19 pm:
The mayor doesn’t have an IGA director (we saw what happened as a result) and doesn’t have a communications director. If he has a plan, he has to communicate it and sell it. We’re a few weeks away from consistent freezing weather. It is time the mayor strap in and get a move on.
- low level - Monday, Nov 6, 23 @ 2:37 pm:
This is killing the Mayor in the African American community and damaging Democrats nationally.
- Amalia - Monday, Nov 6, 23 @ 3:17 pm:
the Mayor does not have an IGA director (multiple strikes of banned punctuations) Really?
- Tom Gooch - Monday, Nov 6, 23 @ 4:26 pm:
we could of course lock the border down now that the great social experiment has failed.
We could also expedite the asylum hearings as I suspect most of these people are going back posy hearing
- Oswego Willy - Monday, Nov 6, 23 @ 4:31 pm:
===expedite the asylum hearings===
Gotta hire more folks to run those hearings.
Use the Google key as to funding those type of hearings.
What has failed is the Feds have refused to model, in vast Texas, an “Ellis Island” stop and processing location, along with taking away the chattel type moving of human beings at the whim of a governor. The Feds need to take a great many of the things Texas thinks it can do and put it under federal control.
The rest is mouth breathing angst to feel better because there’s unaccounted anger waiting to be freed.
- Lucky Pierre - Monday, Nov 6, 23 @ 4:38 pm:
Expedite the asylum hearings?
There are more migrants in Chicago waiting for a hearing than were approved for asylum in the entire country in 2021
“In FY 2021 (the most recent data available), close to 17,700 people were granted asylum either affirmatively or defensively, a 43-percent decrease from 31,000 in 2020 and a 61-percent decrease from 45,900 in 2019″
https://www.migrationpolicy.org/article/refugees-and-asylees-united-states#:~:
- Oswego Willy - Monday, Nov 6, 23 @ 4:45 pm:
===There are more migrants in Chicago waiting for a hearing than were approved for asylum in the entire country in 2021===
It’s true, During the Trump years the approval rate for asylum went way down, the problems in Venezuela continued to rise.
Sounds like a national crisis of international policy that is exacerbated on the border… with less approvals which makes working for these folks all but impossible
===LOS ANGELES (AP) — In just 2½ years, the Trump administration has put its stamp on the nation’s immigration court system, appointing more than 4 in 10 judges while dramatically expanding the bench and issuing new rules that make it harder for migrants to win their cases and stay in the country.
An Associated Press analysis shows that President Donald Trump’s administration has appointed at least 190 immigration judges, accounting for 43 percent of the total.===
https://apnews.com/article/donald-trump-us-news-ap-top-news-courts-immigration-50e97a112fb142f2abffa061ed5737d6
- Lucky Pierre - Monday, Nov 6, 23 @ 5:07 pm:
Perhaps you forgot the effect Covid 19 had on delaying court proceedings since 2019
I know Ed Burke and Mike Madigan haven’t
if we returned to the roughly 50,000 number approved in 2019 we could clean up the current backlog in 50 years assuming no more migrants cross the border
- Oswego Willy - Monday, Nov 6, 23 @ 5:11 pm:
===if we returned to the roughly 50,000 number approved===
Return those already approved?
Huh. That’s an odd take.
- Oswego Willy - Monday, Nov 6, 23 @ 5:16 pm:
===if we returned to the roughly 50,000 number approved===
Oh. Approve 50k a year?
What’s going on in Venezuela going forward that will slow migration, given our own country’s role to policy