An Indiana pastor tried to house a migrant family. Officials said it was dangerous
HAMMOND, Ind. (CBS) – A Northwest Indiana pastor said he was trying to help a migrant family get out of the cold and into a home, but Hammond officials said what he did was dangerous.
The pastor told CBS 2 that a member of his church agreed to temporarily house a family of migrants. But this week, Hammond police stepped in and called the living arrangement dangerous and uninhabitable.
East Chicago Pastor Manuel Corazzari has donated clothes, food and his time to migrant families who arrived in Chicago and who were initially living in and out of police stations.
"One of the boys grabbed my leg and called me uncle, and I said, 'Uncle, I want something for Christmas.' It just broke my heart," Corazzari said.
The pastor grew close to a Venezuelan family and arranged for them to get off the street. A member of the pastor's church agreed to temporarily house the family in his basement for no charge. In all, there were 13 people, including nine children ranging in age from 2 months to 14 years old.
"I think all of us, we have a heart of compassion to make sure these people will not suffer in the wintertime," Corazzari said.
This week, on an unrelated call, Hammond police were alerted to two families living in the basement of the home and called it substandard, overcrowded and in violation of several city ordinances.
"They have extension cords that are overloaded. They have unsafe means of trying to heat the basement," said Hammond Mayor Thomas McDermott Jr. "It was just a bad, dangerous situation."
City inspectors said the cramped conditions created a potential fire hazard, not only to those inside the home, but the entire neighborhood.
Pastor Corazzari said he was just trying to help.
"We are doing everything we can to go by the law," he said. "We don't want to cause any harm. We apologize."
Mayor McDermott said, "It's not compassionate if those two families die in a basement apartment fire. That's not very compassionate."
The mayor also pointed out that, unlike Chicago, Hammond is not a sanctuary city.
"Indiana has been spared from this debate that you all are going throuh in Chicago right now. I don't want it to start in Hammond," he said.
The 13 migrants inside the house were ordered to leave. City inspectors will be back out next week to follow up.
The migrants were unsure where they will go next.