Illinois temporarily places hundreds of migrants in Chicago hotel rooms in response to influx
CHICAGO (CBS) – The state of Illinois is responding to the recent influx of asylum seekers by placing them in temporary hotel rooms in Chicago.
The act comes at the request of Chicago officials after Texas Gov. Greg Abbott sent an unprecedented number of migrants to Illinois without prior notice in recent days.
Thirty hotel rooms were made available Saturday night. The remaining rooms for up to 200 people will be available Sunday.
The Illinois Department of Human Services (IDHS) is working with the City of Chicago to identify hotel spaces, and the city is providing transportation.
Migrants placed in those hotels will be moved to a former CVS in Little Village that will become a shelter. Construction for that is said to be completed in January. Additional shelter sites are also being explored.
"IDHS continues to welcome our new neighbors with support services and assistance with work-permit applications, which will ultimately hasten their journey to self-sufficiency," said Dulce Quintero, IDHS Secretary Designate.
Funding for the hotels will come from the $160 million investment Gov. Pritzker announced in November. That is on top of the $478 million in state funding that has been provided or committed to the asylum seeker response over Fiscal Years 2023 and 2024.
The state says after addressing the bottlenecks and backlogs in providing support for migrants, fewer have been sleeping outside police stations and resettling in independent community housing.
This month the City Council approved tougher penalties with some fines of up to $3,000 if buses fail to notify the city within a certain time and drop off in undesignated locations.
On Friday a bus carrying migrants arrived in West Loop after traveling for three days, according to one asylum seeker who was onboard. OEMC staff provided blankets and some essentials before they were taken away on yellow buses.
On Saturday, six buses arrived in the city with two buses at the city's designated Landing Zone and four, that city officials were aware of, outside of the City of Chicago. Four more buses are expected to arrive on Sunday.