Chicago has started making some migrants leave its shelters, a policy that some people disagree with. A migrant told NBC News on Monday that the policy seemed messy and had been delayed for months.
Migrants who had to leave, and those who have a deadline approaching fast, said they were confused about the process and frustrated about being told to leave when they still don’t have the resources to find their own place to stay.
In the first two days of enforcing the policy, less than 10 migrants were made to leave their shelters, according to the city. Five migrants had to leave on Monday because of the policy, a city spokesperson said, while three were evicted on Sunday.
Franklin Romero, 29, from Venezuela, said he was told at the Woodlawn shelter just one day before that he had to leave by 2 p.m. on Monday.
“It was unbelievable. We have no stability,”
said Romero, who was wearing a silver coat and black pants after he was forced out on a day with freezing temperatures and snow flurries.
Romero said he tried to explain that he had to work on Monday and couldn’t leave the shelter before 2 p.m. with all of his things. He also said someone else at the shelter told him he needed to leave by 12:30 p.m.
He felt disrespected by being rushed to leave the place he called home for months.
“It was clear that I needed to leave, and I respected that, but the treatment, it was a lack of respect,” he said.
The city said on Monday that there were 11,253 migrants in 23 shelters run by the city and state and that about 37,308 new arrivals had come since 2022 when Texas Gov. Greg Abbot started sending people to cities across the country.
The city has wanted to limit shelter stays to 60 days for more than 10,000 migrants, making them find housing or apply for other shelter at the city’s “landing zone” for new arrivals after their exit dates come. The evictions also come during a measles outbreak at one of the shelters.
Thousands of migrants, including families with children, have been given more time.
On Friday, the city said almost three dozen people would be made to leave their shelters on Sunday, but by the evening, it said 31 migrants got more time because of exceptions, like getting public benefits, being pregnant or having infants, needing medical care or isolation, or having families with children under 18.
City officials also said on Friday that 2,026 people would have to leave their current shelters by the end of April.
Enforcement was postponed three times because of bad winter weather, not enough staff, and people against it, like advocates and some elected officials. On Monday, the City Council’s Progressive Reform Caucus said they don’t agree with the policy.
Volunteer Maria Perez, who’s in a group called the Southwest Collective that gives social services, said giving extensions doesn’t fix the bigger problem of not having enough resources for migrants to find work and housing they can pay for.
“Thirty more days isn’t enough time. They need help to be able to do well in this community,”
she said on Monday outside a shelter where migrants are being evicted.
“Why are we doing this again?”
she asked.
“So we’re just putting these people back into this situation where they’re going to be moving everywhere.”
Mayor Brandon Johnson’s administration has said the policy is needed to make some shelters less crowded, especially three that have single migrants, like the Woodlawn one.
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