CHICAGO (WBBM NEWSRADIO) - Days after a 5-year-old boy died at a City migrant shelter, local officials and community activists were crying out for more federal assistance to keep the asylum seekers alive and well.
The plea for more federal resources came from Rep. Jesús "Chuy" García and community advocates like Sarah Izquierdo with the migrant mobile health team of UIC medical students and others.
Izquierdo spoke to a City Council committee meeting weeks ago.
“When I testified that we are tired, that the people we are seeing need more help, no one listened, and yet we have all of these resources in this beautiful, giant city that we are not utilizing,” Izquierdo said.
Council Health Committee Chair Ald. Rossana Rodríguez Sanchez joined the others outside the Immigration and Customs Enforcement Field Office on Thursday.
“We are a sanctuary city, and we want to be able to take care of everybody here, but we can’t do it on our own. We need resources,” Sanchez said.
She said it’s unconscionable that the Biden administration is spending billions for war and not enough to prevent deaths here and in other cities.
Doctor Rebekah Fenton with the Alivio Medical Center in Pilsen was another speaker. She said Chicago needs more federal resources to help provide vaccinations and adequate care for migrants in all City shelters. Her clinic is close to the shelter where young Jean Carlos Martinez Rivero died.
“No child should have to die to demonstrate the unsafe living conditions migrant families are facing. We are all here demanding: No more! Fenton said.
García went even further.
“Yes, there is a federal responsibility, but there’s also a federal responsibility especially now with the arrival of chartered flights to Chicago to investigate Gov. Abbott for human trafficking,” said García.
The congressman criticized Texas Gov. Greg Abbott for using a chartered flight to send migrants to O’Hare.
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