When the first winter weather arrived in Chicago, scores of migrant homeless families were moved to the basement of Good Shepherd Lutheran Church in a nearby suburb. This was done to protect them from the elements.
A migrant guy scrubs the walkway in a small tent community, clearing it of fallen leaves and snow that has melted. (Source: Click Orlando)
Asylum Seekers on Winter Weather
As Chicago and other cities struggle to host the swelling number of asylum-seekers before the winter, volunteers and suburban officials planned a last-minute, temporary solution at about 1 a.m. Wednesday. Mayor Brandon Johnson wants more shelters and winterized tents like in New York to house migrants sleeping in police stations, airports, and the streets. Some aldermen, churches, and volunteers think the reaction is too slow and inefficient. “Goodwill and charity cannot fix systemic problems,” said Annie Gomberg, a police station meal and clothes volunteer. “This lacks infrastructure and forethought.”
As winter weather approaches, New York, which is trying to manage a swelling migrant population, and Denver, which relaxed its shelter requirements after a recent cold snap, may face similar challenges. Since last year, Republican Texas Gov. Greg Abbott has led almost 20,000 migrants to Chicago. Overcrowding has forced more than 3,000 people to live in airports and police stations, including park district field houses, while others have pitched tents in nearby streets and unoccupied lots. Permanent independent housing is the goal, say officials.
Volunteer organizations, which have provided most food and clothing, are now offering winter weather survival techniques. Layering garments is new to most migrants from warmer areas. By Wednesday, temperatures dropped to the low 30s (around 0 Celsius). Many are from Venezuela, where a political, social, and economic crisis has impoverished millions. Many of the 7.3 million who left the nation risked walking to the US. To keep warm, donated tents are lined with cardboard, blankets, and tarps. Gleicy Martinez, 27, from Venezuela, has spent three weeks in a tent outside a Chicago police station with her two children, including a blind 9-year-old.
They rarely exit the tent due to the cold. The police station was overly crowded Tuesday during the storm. They strolled to Target for warmth. “The snow caught us unexpectedly,” Martinez remarked Wednesday. “We didn’t know it would snow.” Municipal officials say the migrants’ entry is an inherited problem they’re working to fix. Johnson has opened over a dozen shelters since taking office in May. City officials have scouted winterized tent places, but details are scarce. Johnson predicts $255 million in 2023 migrant crisis spending in Chicago.
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Shelter for Migrants During Winter Weather
Johnson told reporters Wednesday that he wanted migrants in shelters by winter. “I’m working every day to create spaces to move people out of police stations in a dignified way,” he said. “Cold, but winter isn’t here.” The city promoted its cold weather preparations this week, including 16 overnight “warming buses” at police stations. Last month, the city promoted its external collaborations. On Wednesday, Johnson and four other mayors wrote to President Joe Biden to request a meeting to secure federal funds. In New York, thousands of refugees sleep in climate-controlled tents on empty parking lots, athletic fields, and a former airport runway. Facilities are heated by industrial heaters.
Chicago’s problems may soon affect New York: Local officials seek to suspend a unique legal agreement providing nighttime shelter to the homeless. Mayor Eric Adams says new arrivals may soon sleep in the streets, a “terrible situation” he sees as inevitable as New York tries to handle its swelling migrant population. Some migrants live in tents in Denver, even over the weekend when it dropped to 12 degrees. Denver reinstated its shelter stay limitations Tuesday when temperatures climbed over 20 degrees and threw out 200 refugees.
Elis Aponte, 47, was a Venezuelan camper in Denver. She was scared she’d freeze to death in the nearby gas station restroom. Ski gloves and a crimson puffy jacket complete the look. “It was freezing,” she admitted, referring to her five blankets. Oak Park, approximately 10 miles (16 kilometers) outside Chicago, officials asked Rev. Kathy Nolte to open her church at 1 a.m. A bus carrying largely young families of migrants arrived at Good Shephard within minutes. She then blessed them and their journey. She thinks the church shelter is merely a temporary solution. “We gave them warmth and space,” she explained. This report was contributed to by Melissa Perez Winder in Chicago, Jesse Bedayn in Denver, and Jake Offenhartz in New York.
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