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Asylum-seeker coverage roundup

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* The Tribune reports on homeless people staying at police stations with asylum seekers…

With the arrival of another 20,000 migrants this year who need homes, the city’s existing shelter network — which never fully recovered from the COVID-19 pandemic when the number of beds decreased — maxed out. So city officials turned to police stations to be used as makeshift processing centers for migrants as Chicago scrambled to open shelters.

But even as the city has repurposed old school buildings, warehouses and other vacant structures into places for migrants to sleep — often amid a serious backlash from neighbors — it’s not enough because the existing system wasn’t adequately equipped to begin with, said Douglas Schenkelberg, the executive director of Chicago Coalition for the Homeless. […]

Schenkelberg said that ideally the city would have what he described as a “no-wrong-door approach,” or unified shelter system “that serves everyone regardless of the reason they’re currently experiencing homelessness.”

“You can enter through the same portal, be assessed about what your needs are, provided short-term shelter at the front end and then long-term permanent housing at the back end,” he said. “So your experience of homelessness is very brief.”

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…

But one thing is missing: big-megaphone moral leadership. The City Council is going to continue to dissolve into a morass of NIMBYism until Johnson goes in a big way around their backs and makes the case directly to voters that Chicago can meet this challenge, in fact must meet it, if it is to collectively look itself in the mirror in the morning.

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.”

posted by Rich Miller
Monday, Nov 6, 23 @ 1:04 pm

Comments

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.

Comment by MidwesternWorker 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.

Comment by Just Me 2 Monday, Nov 6, 23 @ 1:19 pm
===less on photo ops. ===

He barely even does those.

Comment by Rich Miller Monday, Nov 6, 23 @ 1:22 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.

Comment by NIU Grad Monday, Nov 6, 23 @ 1:25 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”

Comment by Oswego Willy Monday, Nov 6, 23 @ 1:33 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.

Comment by Oswego Willy 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.

Comment by JS Mill Monday, Nov 6, 23 @ 1:39 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

Comment by DuPage Saint Monday, Nov 6, 23 @ 1:40 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/

Comment by Rich Miller Monday, Nov 6, 23 @ 1:43 pm
Amateur hour will only get worse. CTU running the City into the ground much like they have their union.

Comment by NotRich Monday, Nov 6, 23 @ 1:47 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.

Comment by Formerly Unemployed Monday, Nov 6, 23 @ 1:54 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?

Comment by levivotedforjudy 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.

Comment by Stephanie Kollmann Monday, Nov 6, 23 @ 1:59 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.

Comment by Tinman 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.

Comment by illinifan Monday, Nov 6, 23 @ 2:01 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?

Comment by Amalia Monday, Nov 6, 23 @ 2:02 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.

Comment by DisappointedVoter Monday, Nov 6, 23 @ 2:19 pm
This is killing the Mayor in the African American community and damaging Democrats nationally.

Comment by low level Monday, Nov 6, 23 @ 2:37 pm
the Mayor does not have an IGA director (multiple strikes of banned punctuations) Really?

Comment by Amalia Monday, Nov 6, 23 @ 3:17 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

Comment by Tom Gooch Monday, Nov 6, 23 @ 4:26 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.

Comment by Oswego Willy Monday, Nov 6, 23 @ 4:31 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#:~:

Comment by Lucky Pierre Monday, Nov 6, 23 @ 4:38 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

Comment by Oswego Willy Monday, Nov 6, 23 @ 4:45 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

Comment by Lucky Pierre Monday, Nov 6, 23 @ 5:07 pm
===if we returned to the roughly 50,000 number approved===

Return those already approved?

Huh. That’s an odd take.

Comment by Oswego Willy Monday, Nov 6, 23 @ 5:11 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

Comment by Oswego Willy Monday, Nov 6, 23 @ 5:16 pm