Chicago has been a sanctuary city for a long time. It has welcomed many immigrants all around the world. This year, many migrants have been arriving to the city in which they are given shelter and supplies. However, there have been an alarming amount of people coming in to the city which has started to raise concerns.
Hundreds of People
Last week, there were about twelve buses that arrived at Chicago, which was way more than the city could handle in one day. It is not known how many people in total were in the buses combined but it definitely a large number. Not only was this too much for one day, there are already thousands of other migrants that were stablished prior to this wave of buses. The city was already having a hard time keeping up with sheltering the people that had arrived before, now with this many people, stressful is an understatement.
This weekend has been really tough, and it was coming off of a lot of movement as well of people out of districts and into shelters,” said Anna Gomberg a volunteer organizer. Gomberg is one of the many people that volunteered to help out these people get settled into their shelters. She is currently volunteering at the 15th police district in the Austin neighborhood. said.
Running Out of Space
There is estimated to be 1,600 people that are waiting on a place for shelter because of the lack of space. They are currently forced to live in tents until space becomes available. Many people, men, women, and children, have been living like this for about three months now. “This is supposed to be very temporary. None of this supports the dignity of human life,” stated Gomberg. This problem has been going on for so long, people are beginning to get affected.
The newest migrant shelter was opened in the West side loop. While this is good news for migrants, it is a nightmare for the tenants that were holding a business there. The bottom floor of that building is currently being rented out by a tenant using it for retail business. However, last Friday, the owner of the building decided to use part of the building for sheltering the migrants.
Thomas de Boer is the name of the tenant in this situation. He said he just signed a lease for this building. He won’t be able to use part of it because its becoming a shelter. Boer was told by the landlord that whether he liked it or not, he was going to use part of the property for the shelter. This was absolutely devastating for him since he worked so hard to get to were he is with his business. He had invested so much time and money on the property as well.
Community is Overwhelmed
The community is happy to be able to help people in need, however, it is becoming overwhelming very fast. There are hundreds of volunteers and it is still not enough. In last few weeks the city officials have signed a twenty nine million dollar contract with GardaWorld to operate tent cities.
The volunteers have tried to keep the area where migrants are staying at clean and sanitized. They also make sure everyone is provided food and water while they wait for placement at a shelter. Some even went as far as enrolling some of the children in school for the year. “I also know, this is what we can do right now so the volunteers and myself are doing everything we can to make this as livable as a place as it can be,” said Gomberg.
Written By: Erika P. Cano Peralta
Sources:
WGN9: 12 buses carrying migrants arrive in Chicago over the weekend
Chicago Tribune: Volunteers say buses of migrants arriving in Chicago at increased rate
Fox 32 Chicago: Tension brews in Chicago’s West Loop as migrant shelter moves into commercial building
Top and Featured Image Courtesy of David Shankbone Flickr Page – Creative Commons License
Inset Image Courtesy of Stephen Hogan Flickr Page – Creative Commons License
