Gov. Pritzker and Mayor Johnson ask feds to fast-track work authorization for migrants; aldermen advance new housing for asylum-seekers

CHICAGO — Illinois Gov. J.B. Pritzker and Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson sent a joint letter Monday to U.S. Secretary of Homeland Security Alejandro Mayorkas requesting streamlined work authorization that would let Illinois sponsor non-citizens to work in industries facing labor shortages.

“As we continue to receive new arrivals who often lack sponsors, shelter, and have no immediate legal pathways to work, we have come to understand that this is not a short-term crisis, but rather a longterm reality,” the letter sent Monday reads.

The joint ask is for Homeland Security to grant asylum-seekers parole through the “Significant Public Benefit” designation, in which states would sponsor individuals to work in critical industries. Among the industries identified in Illinois, according to the letter, are “food processing, clean energy, health care (including in nursing and dentistry), transportation, warehousing and more.”

“As the asylum-seekers we serve have begun to build lives for themselves and their families in Illinois, we have witnessed the dangerous work conditions and exploitation that often result when individuals lack access to legal work and the protections that come with it,” the letter says. “The precarious legal status of non-citizen workers exposes them to a higher risk of mistreatment, especially when employers wield the power to determine the legal presence of an employee. It is our strong recommendation that in the development of this program, worker safety and worker choice is prioritized, and a worker’s legal presence is not solely tied to their employment by a single employer.”

Other existing parole programs for Afghan nationals, Cubans, Haitians, Nicaraguans and Venezuelans “offer significantly shorter pathways to work authorization and have allowed many migrants to quickly achieve self-sufficiency” while contributing to industries in need of workers, the letter said, noting that Illinois and Chicago had spent and obligated $250 million to help “welcome and support” more than 13,000 asylum-seekers who have come to Chicago from the U.S.-Mexico border in the past year.

Migrants can’t apply for work authorization until after they apply for asylum, and the process from start to finish can take several months or well over a year, depending on various factors, including a backlog of applicants, according to experts who spoke to the Tribune in July.

The pressures of welcoming asylum-seekers was on full display Monday, as members of the Chicago City Council’s housing committee debated spending $1.5 million to buy a 10-acre site on the city’s Northwest Side to transform a vacant Marine Corps reserves training facility into housing for migrants.

The OK to buy the site from the Metropolitan Water District of Chicago couldn’t come soon enough, city officials said Monday.

“Today we have two buses inbound, we have a flight that should have landed a little while ago from San Antonio,” said Lori Ann Lypson, the deputy mayor for infrastructure. “We are at max capacity and we are desperate for places so families, especially children … have shelter and are not sleeping outside.”

Pressed to outline long-term plans to accommodate migrants, Johnson’s deputy chief of staff, Cristina Pacione-Zayas, pointed to the need for more help from President Joe Biden’s administration.

“The federal government — although this is a federal responsibility — has only invested $21 million. That’s not even covering what our monthly burn rate is. Yet, this is precisely in the jurisdiction of federal government. This week is a very important week for us strategically,” Pacione-Zayas said, noting the governor had sent the letter to Mayorkas.

“There’s also a lot of support from the labor community, the business community, Congressional leaders to put this pressure, because we know that that is a sustainable way that we can begin to address this situation, so that people can be on a path towards self-determination, self-sustainability,” she said. Johnson will reiterate that message at a meeting with Mayorkas this week, she said.

Also coming Friday, Pacione-Zayas said, the state will begin the process of receiving letters of intent from various suburban municipalities to “partake in the shared responsibility of welcoming our new arrivals.”

Pritzker’s 2024 budget set aside $42.5 million to fund asylum-seeker services across the state. That could range from legal representation, shelter, transportation, health care and food to case management, translation services and workplace readiness. The Metropolitan Mayors Caucus partnered with the state’s Department of Human Services to open up those funds to municipalities who applied. According to the MMC’s website, “award notification will be made before the end of September 2023.”

Section 570. The sum of $42,500,000, or so much thereof as may be necessary, is appropriated from the General Revenue Fund to the Department of Human Services for grants and administrative expenses associated with legal representation, technological assistance, shelter, transportation, basic health and first aid, food, case management, COVID-19 testing, interpretation and translation services, and workplace readiness for asylum-seekers in the approximate amount below:

The proposed site at 3034 Foster Ave — along the west bank of the Chicago River’s North Shore Channel and adjacent to the CTA’s North Park Garage and Northside College Prep — has been home to a Marine Corps reserve training center and armory since 1959, according to the MWRD. Though its $10 annual lease was slated to end in 2053, the corps has already vacated the buildings and the MWRD’s board authorized a termination of the lease agreement earlier this month, according to board records.

The $1.5 million spend — lauded as “a good deal” by city officials — will only cover the purchase itself, not any upgrades or ongoing service costs. The city plans to lease the site until the purchase is completed within the next four months, Lypson told committee members Monday. There would likely be a monthly cost of upkeep, too: The Marines spent $43,000 a year on maintenance, Lypson said.

Immediate timing for having shelter up and running is unclear. Lypson said there is HVAC work needed inside but the facility is otherwise “up to par.”

The buildings — which have showers, office space, classrooms and a mess hall — would be able to house 550 people, and will likely be reserved for families with school-aged children, Lypson said. It will be three weeks until the city will likely be able to get in and assess the space, she said.

The city is considering either capital bonds or funds from the Lawrence/Kedzie TIF to pay for the purchase. City records show that the TIF had a balance of $25.7 million at the end of 2022.

Ald. David Moore, 17th, said he could not support authorization without knowing for certain where the money would come from or the city’s long-term plans.

“I’d never stop an alderman from using their TIF money to do what they want to do with their stuff,” Moore said. But “when I’m asking for a recreational facility and rebuilding Ogden Park in Englewood … I’d be foolish to vote for something to pull money from another source I could be using in my community.”

Moore tried to hold the item in committee — essentially stop it from moving to the full City Council next month — but was the lone voice of dissent, and the measure passed.

Moore is not a stranger to holding up votes over infrastructure complaints in his own South Side ward.

Local Ald. Samantha Nugent, 39th, spoke in favor of the project and the use of TIF money to pay for it. “I think this is a really important project.” After the migrant crisis subsides, the buildings would be ripe for development to benefit the public, she said.

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