Four days into the rollout of Mayor Brandon Johnson’s plan to evict migrants from Chicago shelters, Ald. Andre Vasquez (40th) and other alderpersons are calling for a halt to evictions before they exacerbate the city’s already intractable problems with unhoused Chicagoans.
“At this point we have thousands of homeless,” said Vasquez on Wednesday, speaking alongside a group of supportive alderpersons and advocates at City Hall. “Mayor Johnson’s plan will add to those numbers.”
The call to abandon the long-delayed 60-day shelter stay limit comes as eight migrants have so far been forced to leave shelters since Sunday, according to city data, and around 2,000 — mostly solo men — are expected to have to leave by the end of April.
“We know it’s unprecedented. We know the president should do more,” said Vasquez, calling out President Joe Biden for not taking executive action to grant migrants the ability to legally work so they can support themselves. “But when it comes to people being kicked out on the street, that’s solely the decision of our mayor.”
At a briefing after Wednesday’s City Council meeting, Johnson discussed the vast amounts the city has spent already in receiving over 37,000 migrants — 11,000 of whom remain in 23 shelters — and said that evictions are necessary given the city’s constraints.
“Local municipalities are not designed to deal with an international crisis,” Johnson said, pointing the finger at Texas Gov. Greg Abbott for sending migrants to Chicago. He “needs to find a soul” Johnson said of Abbott.
“The reality is that we have restraints,” the mayor said.
City Council members opposing evictions say potential problems could grow.
“You think taxes are high now. Wait till you get 2,000 more people out on the street who all need the same things you need now,” said Vasquez, chair of the Committee on Immigrant and Refugee Rights. “The cost of this move — on health care services, homeless services and the human costs should be intolerable to all of us.”
The North Side alderperson spoke flanked by Alds. Nicole Lee (11th), Mike Rodriguez (22nd), Gil Villegas (36th), Leni Manaa-Hoppenworth (48th) and Maria Hadden (49th) — several of whom have joined previous calls for Johnson to abandon the 60-day shelter limit rule.
Carmen Victoria Medina del Valero, a migrant from Venezuela speaks at a news conference at City Hall on Wednesday, calling for an end to Chicago migrant shelter evictions. The 35-year-old said that without an ability to legally work, the move puts migrants in a vulnerable and desperate position, ultimately hampering their path to become part of the local community.
Michael Loria/Sun-Times
Among the speakers was Carmen Victoria Medina del Valero, a mother of three who had been staying for months at a North Side shelter for families. On Wednesday her family was able to get help finding an apartment.
The 35-year-old said she is incredibly grateful but that it’s “not a good solution, to throw us out on the street.”
The trouble, she said, is the same issues alderpersons pointed out — the inability to legally work. It puts people like her husband in the position of spending their days at Home Depot, waiting on the chance that someone needs a hand for an odd job, which they may or may not be paid for.
“We came here for the future of our kids and ultimately to be a part of this community,” said the native of the Venezuelan state of Falcón. She worked as a teacher for students with special needs in the Caribbean coastal state and hopes to become one again in Chicago.
“But it takes time. If they have the ability to keep helping, I think they should. These are kids who are going to be the future of this community too.”
Michael Loria is a staff reporter for the Chicago Sun-Times via Report for America, a not-for-profit journalism program that aims to bolster the paper’s coverage of communities on the South Side and West Side.
