CHICAGO (WBBM NEWSRADIO) — Among the many legal clinics that have popped up across Chicago to help newly arrived migrants, one that took place on Saturday offered a face-to-face with local labor representatives.
The legal clinic — held at the UNITE HERE Local 1 Headquarters on South Wabash Avenue in the Loop — did more than simply introduce dozens of migrants to Chicago Federation of Labor (CFL) partners. The volunteers, which included attorneys and translators, helped individuals fill out the piles of legal paperwork necessary to gain Temporary Protected Status and work authorization.
“There’s a couple who worked at the airport,” said UNITE HERE Local 1 President Karen Kent. “They were both servers at the airport, and the husband was a doctor before in his country.”
Kent told WBBM that many migrants come to the U.S. with valuable skills in professions where employers are struggling to fill job vacancies. Until they’re able to practice their chosen profession in this country, though, many take on jobs in the service, labor and hospitality industries in order to make ends meet.
“He took the steps to get hired here as a doctor, eventually, got the training and certifications that he needed, and now he’s back to practicing as a doctor,” Kent said. “[He] was, a few short years ago, a server at the airport.”
As of Jan. 28, the latest data from Chicago shows that an estimated 35,030 migrants have arrived in the city since Texas began sending buses in August 2022. There are currently over 14,000 residents in 28 active shelters, with 191 individuals awaiting placement.
Don Villar, who was volunteering at Saturday’s event, said many of the city’s new arrivals are being exploited while they wait for the proper work authorization.
“How do we address the exploitation?” he said.
Villar, the CFL’s secretary treasurer, said unions exist to protect workers, which makes them perfect for the task of guiding the city’s new arrivals through the work authorization process.
“We have a lot of low-road temp agencies that prey on these people,” he said.
In his time as a labor organizer, Villar has fought against worker exploitation, and he recognized that Chicago’s underground economy has seen a boost with the influx of people who aren’t yet able to legally work in the U.S. Still, he said there’s room for a soft spot for the thousands of Chicagoans who are truly trying to help these individuals by paying them under the table for miscellaneous odd jobs.
“Really, if it’s coming from the heart, you see somebody’s who’s suffering — just the whole human nature and our human spirit — you see somebody suffering, and you want to help,”
CFL Chaplain Fr. Clete Kiley, who also serves as a senior advisor to Cardinal Blase Cupich, echoed that sentiment.
“You see families with little children, and I keep thinking, ‘I hope they’re not living in a tent in a Chicago winter,’” he said. “It breaks your heart, and I think there’s a real moral mandate for us to respond. These are human beings, and we have to do everything we can to receive them, welcome them and help move them into the ordinary life of folks in the city.”
Saturday’s program, which was sponsored by downtown Ald. Bill Conway (34th) has served nearly 200 migrants over the course of four recent clinics, with more to come. Conway said the work is done by volunteers at no cost to the migrants or the city.
Nationals of certain countries, including Venezuela, who arrived prior to July 31, 2023, are eligible to apply for Temporary Protected Status. After those applications are submitted, approval comes in a matter of weeks.
Chicago's legal clinics are the result of an effort from the state of Illinois, the Resurrection Project, the city of Chicago, the Chicago Bar Foundation and hundreds of volunteers. Those interested in volunteering may do so here.
Listen to our new podcast Looped In: Chicago
Listen to WBBM Newsradio now on Audacy!
Sign up and follow WBBM Newsradio
Facebook | Twitter | Instagram | TikTok