Volunteers helping migrants arriving in Chicago call for city, state help
CHICAGO (CBS) – A packed community meeting took place at South Shore International College Prep on Thursday evening where hundreds of neighbors were expected to voice their concerns to city leaders.
They're worried about the opening of a nearby vacant high school as a respite site for asylum seekers.
There are lots of challenges for the city and organizers helping to get migrants safe and settled. One of those challenges is providing them meals.
CBS 2's Noel Brennan spent the day with one group feeding families and getting them other crucial supplies.
Their lunch break is a grocery run and a short walk they wish they didn't have to take.
"We're doing this because we feel we have to," said Meghan Carpenter-Houghton.
Juan Antonio Montesinos and Carpenter-Houghton are looking out for their new neighbors.
"Nuevos vecinos, right," said Montesinos. "That's what they are."
The volunteers visit the 1st Chicago Police District Station daily. On Thursday, they brought over-the-counter medication and snacks for three families living inside.
"They are all very sweet," Montesinos said. "One of the moms is pregnant, and she's sleeping on the floor right there."
They're families that fled Venezuela and found refuge on the floor of a police station.
"She's sleeping on the floor right there," said Montesinos. "And she doesn't take showers. She just has to be living from what we bring them."
Like migrants resting at police stations across the city, these families rely on help largely from volunteers.
"I feel like there's no other option but to do something," Carpenter-Houghton said.
She and Montesinos are part of an organized network of more than 100 people called the Chicago Volunteer Police Station Response Team. They're caring for a growing population and they need support.
"We're looking for the city to step up to provide at least two meals a day to these people, to provide showers, to provide medical access and a better place to sleep," said Carpenter-Houghton.
Until then, volunteers will find time and energy to help new neighbors.
"They all want to work," said Montesinos. "They all want to get to take their kids to school. They all want to get an apartment and we just do whatever we can."
Volunteer leaders sent a letter this week to all 50 aldermen saying the crisis can't be shouldered by volunteers for much longer.
The group said one of the families they were working with is leaving the police station and heading to a shelter after 10 days.
The volunteers shared the full text of their letter to aldermen:
To Chicago Aldermen,
We are a group of 100+ neighbors and local volunteers (with ties to grassroots faith-based and community-based groups supporting immigrants) who formed as a response to the humanitarian crisis we see playing out today in Chicago. We need to express our significant concerns regarding the surge in arriving migrants to our police stations. If you have been in a police station recently, you likely have seen us there, serving food and trying our best to meet the immediate needs of this population. As volunteers, we have been supporting these new arrivals as they await shelter placement with at least two meals a day and essential items like toiletries, clean undergarments, warm coats and clothing, blankets and baby supplies. One of our greatest challenges is determining how to help families get a warm shower or treatment for a medical condition or injury. They worry that leaving the station would mean losing their spot in a shelter, should the Salvation Army van arrive in their absence.
This is the "City of Big Shoulders", but we can no longer shoulder this burden ourselves. We are your constituents who have our own families to feed and even may be struggling ourselves with the high cost of food. Yet we see this urgent need to help these hungry families who are not receiving enough support from city services. So we step up, spend our own money and give our own goods, because we care.
In addition to our efforts, some of your own police officers are spending their personal money and days off also assisting these migrants. Just in the past couple days, numbers of new arrivals have surged, with some police districts reporting over 20 migrants in their lobbies, some of who are babies and young children. With the federal Title 42 ending on May 11, we are fearful of the reports of huge surges in new arrivals that the city is bracing for in just a few short weeks. As reported in an April 28 Chicago Tribune article, the city is "planning for the current surge to reach a peak of 4,700 new arrivals per day," according to Chicago budget director Susie Park.
Let's be clear: This is a crisis that the city is watching its constituents manage. We cannot be expected to be responsible for feeding, clothing and handling urgent medical issues of these hundreds – if not thousands – of migrants ourselves while they spend days and often weeks awaiting shelter placement.
We demand our elected officials relieve us from the overwhelming work we have been doing in the absence of city, state and federal resources by immediately addressing the following action items:
· Provide twice-daily meals for all newly arrived migrants in police stations while they await shelter placement
· Provide shower facilities and transportation for newly arrived migrants at least once a week while they await shelter placement
· Provide resources for medical attention, medicine, etc. as necessary – we have seen firsthand babies with days of diarrhea, people with unexplained rashes, lice, significant stomach upset in adults, those with medical conditions who have run out of critical medication, coughs/colds, etc.
· Open new, more appropriate locations for migrants for short-term stays while they await shelter placementWe recognize this requires significant funding, so we strongly urge you to push harder for funding from federal and state levels, in addition to passing local legislation and redirecting budgets as necessary, to mitigate this humanitarian crisis.We see the work you're doing and thank you for ramping up efforts to meet and try to address these issues, but as each day passes and more people arrive, us volunteers are the ones feeling the strain – we are tired, we are running out of our own money, and we are incredibly worried about what's to come unless we see major developments from our government now.
Sincerely,
Lead volunteers for Chicago police district stations