Migrant eviction statistics need to be more 'transparent,' some Chicago City Council members say

A City Council committee is demanding more details about migrants evicted from city shelters, two weeks after Mayor Brandon Johnson implemented a 60-day eviction policy.

The Committee on Immigrant and Refugee Rights on Thursday advanced an ordinance that would provide more information about who is affected by the policy.

If approved by the full Council, the ordinance would require daily reporting of age, gender, time in shelter, exception screening results, shelter exited from, exit date and bi-weekly reporting of grievances reported by the person exiting.

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The city provides the total number of evicted migrants. A total of 24 migrants have been evicted from city shelters since the policy took effect on March 16, after several postponements and a measles outbreak.

On Thursday, the city reported that 10,263 immigrants were staying in 23 shelters run by the city and state.

Committee chairman Ald. Andre Vasquez (40th) said the information provided over the past two weeks isn’t enough.

The ordinance requires the city’s Department of Family and Support Services — whose deputy commissioner was present Thursday — to report the more extensive exit shelter statistics.

“The ordinance introduced largely standardizes some of the existing reporting provided by the city in a cadence and format that we believe helps in providing transparency, accountability and accessibility into the work being done … as it addresses the challenges presented by an unprecedented humanitarian crisis,” Vasquez said.

The grievance reporting requirement is especially important because of complaints of shelter conditions and incidents, Vasquez said.

The city has access to most of this information, including some grievance reporting, Vasquez said.

The exit and conditions statistics will allow local and state leaders to be “informed as to the status of the mission as it continues in order to figure out how best to address situations,” he said.

He hopes it would help aldermen better understand what is going on at the shelters in their ward.

The city’s Department of Law and Department of Family and Support Services raised concerns about whether the extensive detail might violate the welcoming city ordinance and whether the data could be provided daily.

“In my opinion … the more information about individuals that we put on there, and when you’re talking about five people leaving in a day, it gets easier and easier to track who is leaving a facility,” said Rey Santos, with the Chicago Department of Law.

Jonathan Ernst, first deputy commissioner with the city’s Department of Family and Support Services, said information may need to be provided weekly instead of daily to provide accurate information.

“I would just appreciate the opportunity for us all to get together and really craft an ordinance that we can follow through on accurately, and get transparency and data out there that is useful and is not misleading in any way,” Ernst said.