Chicago leaders demand federal support for migrants after child dies in shelter
CHICAGO (CBS)-- Local leaders and activists are calling for the feds to step in, following the death of a 5-year-old migrant child at a shelter in Pilsen. Multiple aldermen, state representatives, and other community leaders said no death is acceptable.
Their message on Thursday was not new. They repeated calls for the federal government to provide funding to help the urgent need for healthcare and housing for asylum seekers to make sure something like this never happens again.
Jean Carlos Martinez Rivero, age 5, died Sunday after falling ill at a migrant shelter at Cermak and Halsted. His cause of death was still under investigation as of Thursday.
At least four other children and one teenager were also taken to hospitals from the same shelter on Sunday and Monday, but the Chicago Department of Public Health has said it did not appear Jean Carlos died of an infectious disease. But migrants living at the site reported chickenpox and other respiratory illnesses.
When the Pilsen shelter first opened, city officials said it was intended to house up to 1,000 migrants, but is now housing more than 2,300. Jean Carlos' death has advocates calling for transparency on health and safety protocols inside all of the city's migrant shelters.
"People don't migrate all the way to the United States just to die three weeks later like Jean Carlos Martinez Rivero. So his death should not be in vain," said Nino Brown, a local activist.
The vendor, Favorite Healthcare Staffing, was hired to take care of migrants in shelters. Over the past year, the city paid the company more than $93 million to do the work. CBS 2 examined the latest contract, for $40 million, that was supposed to last until next October, but city records show Chicago has already paid out the majority of that money.
CBS 2 reached out to the city and Favorite Healthcare Staffing for comment on news of the latest arrivals, especially to find out what will happen to them if the contract for healthcare services runs out of money. Neither the city nor the company immediately responded to the request for comment.
Meanwhile, the governor of Texas began using private planes to send migrants to Chicago, after the city started cracking down on buses that were not following rules for notifying officials here about arrivals, or dropping off migrants at designated areas.
Mayor Brandon Johnson's office said a private plane chartered by the Texas Department of Emergency Management landed at O'Hare International Airport around 7:15 p.m. Tuesday and dropped off about 100 asylum seekers at Signature Flight. A spokesperson for Texas Gov. Greg Abbott said there were more than 120 passengers on the plane.
Because the flight arrived without warning from Texas, airport officials called police when it landed. The mayor's office said two unidentified people who flew with the migrants fled the Signature Flight office at O'Hare in an Uber before police arrived.
The flight originated in El Paso, Texas, along the U.S.-Mexico border.
Abbott's office blamed Chicago's crackdown on buses that have been bringing migrants to Chicago without following the city's rules. Earlier this month, the City Council approved tougher penalties for what the Johnson administration has described as "rogue bus operators" for violations such as failing to notify the city within an appropriate timeframe and not dropping off migrants at designated locations. Violators are subject to fines of up to $3,000, and buses that violate Chicago's rules could be impounded. Since the ordinance was enacted, 96 buses have been cited, and one bus has been impounded, according to the city.
That crackdown prompted Abbott to start sending migrants to Chicago by plane, and his office promised more are coming.
"Because Mayor Johnson is failing to live up to his city's 'Welcoming City' ordinance by targeting migrant buses from Texas, we are expanding our operation to include flights to Chicago," Abbott spokesman Andrew Mahaleris said.
KTVT-TV, the CBS station in Dallas, reported the migrants who arrived on the private plane on Tuesday signed consent waivers and agreed to fly to Chicago.
Still, Chicago leaders and activists, including U.S. Rep. Jesus "Chuy" Garcia (D-Illinois) and Alds. Byron Sigcho-Lopez (25th) and Rossana Rodriguez-Sanchez (33rd) said Abbott's move is an act of human trafficking and a human rights violation.
"This is a political attack that is costing people's lives," Sigcho-Lopez said. "It is very clear, we have to call this what it is … this is human trafficking. This is treating people's lives as disposable."
"We see it in plain sight, and it's blatant, and to see our federal government stand idle while children die, this is something that unfortunately we're getting too used to," activist Allen Washington said.
"There's also a federal responsibility, especially now with the arrival of charter flights to Chicago, to investigate Governor Abbott for human trafficking and for using the airways in our country to engage in that human trafficking, which causes misery," Garcia said.
Garcia also said the federal government needs to provide more assistance to Chicago and other cities that have been providing shelter for asylum seekers, and to speed up work permits for all migrants.
"That is essential. It's critical for Chicago, it's critical for New York, for Houston, for all the other cities that are seeking to do everything that they can, but they cannot do it alone," he said. "This is a moment for executive action on providing work permits for everyone in this country who is undocumented. Our economy is starving for people, but they need work permits."
As of Thursday morning, 216 migrants were staying at O'Hare International Airport, including the asylum seekers who arrived Tuesday night. The mayor's office said it was working to find space for all of those migrants in one of the 27 active migrant shelters in Chicago. City data also shows more than 200 migrants staying at Daley College. A source told CBS 2 that around 100 more asylum seekers will move into the college's gym.
Since August 2022, a total of 26,200 migrants have arrived in Chicago, mostly from Texas. Approximately 14,150 of them were staying in one of 27 active city-run shelters as of Wednesday, meaning approximately 12,000 have been resettled into permanent homes, which is the city's ultimate goal for all of the asylum seekers.
