Mayor Johnson must end migrant shelter evictions, Latino aldermen say
Chicago’s policy of evicting migrants living in shelters after a 60-day stay needs to end, the City Council’s Latino Caucus told Mayor Brandon Johnson in a letter Monday.
The call to end evictions comes shortly after Johnson’s administration began to remove migrant families with schoolchildren from shelters. The families had previously gotten an exemption during the school year.
“We believe that since the City has the capacity to house new arrivals, it should do so with the budget allocations we agreed upon without subjecting them, especially families with kids, to the humiliating and traumatizing experience of repeated evictions,” the letter said.
Through Sunday, 1,026 people have been evicted from Chicago’s migrant shelters since removals began in mid-March. So far, 558 of those people have reentered shelters, according to city data.
The city has over 4,000 beds available, the Latino Caucus said. The caucus asked the city to create “more humane” extension periods, better track where evicted people go and share updated plans on spending and responding to potential surges.
“This moment requires responsible and principled leadership that centers those who are marginalized and in need of help,” the letter continued. “Mayor Johnson has shown it in the past, we need him to show it now.”
The Johnson administration did not immediately respond to questions about the policy Monday.
Immigration Committee Chair Ald. Andre Vasquez, 40th, circulated a similar letter among aldermen in March days before the first evictions started. At the time, he called on Johnson to drop the eviction deadline standard and instead address shelter stays on a case-by-case basis.
Aldermen push for more transparency and tracking of migrants Chicago evicts from shelters
Johnson’s 60-day policy started with a series of exceptions. People who were preparing to move out of the shelter, struggling with various health issues or caring for kids in school would not be removed, the administration determined.
Only three people of the then-11,000 shelter residents were moved on the first day of evictions in mid-March. Since that period, Chicago’s struggle housing migrants has seen relative calm.
The number of buses carrying more people primarily from Texas to Chicago has plummeted, with just seven arriving so far this month. The shelter population has sharply declined too. It is down to 6,533 residents, a night-and-day difference from the nearly 15,000-resident population that overwhelmed shelters in late December.
The city recently opened a new shelter with capacity for around 300 people run and paid for by the nonprofit Zakat Foundation of America in partnership with the Archdiocese of Chicago, unlike other facilities that are city-run.
Chicago’s elected leaders and city officials had been holding their breath for months in anticipation of a summertime spike in migrant arrivals. They feared conservative leaders like Texas Gov. Greg Abbott would flood the city with asylum-seekers in an effort to overwhelm Chicago in the lead-up to the Democratic National Convention in August.
So far, such an effort has not materialized. But asylum requests at the Mexican border have been sharply curtailed by an executive order made by President Joe Biden two weeks ago, which is being challenged in court by several pro immigrant organizations.
Vasquez decried Biden’s policy when it was first issued, calling it a reinforcement of “fearmongering” and “truly disappointing.” But Johnson had no criticism of the policy in a statement he shared. Instead, he echoed Biden’s criticism of long-held federal immigration law.
“It is time for Congress to finally work with President Biden to pass comprehensive immigration reform, and create fair and functional policies for our country,” Johnson wrote then.
