CHICAGO (WBBM NEWSRADIO) — After a lengthy debate, the City Council’s Budget Committee voted to use a $20 million state grant to provide additional shelter, food and services for recently arrived asylum seekers.
Deputy Budget Director LaToya Vaughn said the City is currently serving about 2,200 asylum seekers, with no idea how many more might arrive in the coming months.
Some alderpersons, including retiring Ald. Leslie Hairston (3rd Ward), complained they’ve been given no advance notice when groups are set to arrive in their communities. Hairston said she stumbled upon a crowd milling in the parking lot of a hotel after its restaurant had closed—and a staffer later questioned an emergency services official.
“They said, ‘These are the migrants. We’re housing them here, and we send the bus to pick them up every day, and we take them and we get services for them,’” Hairston said. “I happen to be the alderman of that ward and nobody has said anything to me.”
Hairston said her office is accessible to City officials 24 hours a day and added that someone from Vaughn’s department should be keeping alders informed.
“When somebody immigrates, they don’t know anything about the city’s 311 or anything else. They have no way—I would assume—to know what delegate agencies to call. So, this is being organized by somebody in your department, and I’d like a name. I’d like to know what the process is.”
Ald. Michael Rodriguez (22nd) echoed Hairston’s concerns.
“I obviously would like to support them,” Rodriguez said. “I want to help them out. I want to figure out what other resources we can be providing, and this is the most immigrant community in Chicago and the Midwest United States. We’re ready to help, and to not have the communication was really a major miss.”
Despite his criticism, Rodriguez ultimately voted yes on what he described as “very important dollars.” The measure will go before the full city council next Wednesday.
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