CHICAGO (WBBM NEWSRADIO) — Speaking in Spanish, Yefferson Smith Palma said he only remembers a few things about the suburb where he and other migrants were recently dropped off: there was a car wash, a gas station, and it looked like a wealthy town.
There, the 19-year-old said he was given a Metra ticket and took the train to Chicago’s Union Station.
On Wednesday, he was among what the City said were 40 migrants who were awaiting shelter placement at Chicago’s so-called “landing zone” in the South Loop, located at South Desplaines and West Polk Streets.
When he first arrived at the landing zone, Smith Palma said a man told him “if he has a Plan A, Plan B, or Plan C, to look for it,” because there is no room for anyone.
The Office of Emergency Management and Communications said asylum seekers are received at the landing zone when they arrive in Chicago to await placement in a city shelter.
Also at the landing zone was Josue Dovid Molino Portillo, from Venezuela, who said he and other migrants were spending their nights on Chicago Transit Authority warming buses.
“We are sleeping in the seats, covered with blankets,” he said in Spanish.
The 21-year-old man said they were being provided with food, water and clothes from City workers and volunteers, but now he’s waiting for shelter and the documentation he’ll need to begin working and take care of his family back in Venezuela.
“We came here on a long journey, and thank God we came here,” he said. “I never lose hope.”
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