🚨🚨 BREAKING: Over 600 Black residents showed up in Chicago to protest their Youth Program being closed down to house illegal immigrants. pic.twitter.com/HrBbFVJdSB
— JOSH DUNLAP (@JDunlap1974) July 11, 2024
via chicagotribune:
Mayor Brandon Johnson’s administration has begun the process of removing from city shelters dozens of migrant families, including those with children who attended Chicago Public Schools.
Just days after the CPS school year ended, officials this week began the eviction process to continue to ease pressure on overstretched resources in shelters run by the city and state.
It’s the second significant wave of forced removals at shelters since the city began ordering mostly single men and some single women to find housing elsewhere. Now, entire families are being told the same.
Homeless advocates and experts said moving the families from shelters could be detrimental to the children’s sense of stability. For many of the migrant children, school has been the only structure in their lives after traveling for months to the United States, the experts said.
“Going through this eviction process is stressful and very challenging for them,” said Alyssa Phillips, education attorney for the Chicago Coalition for the Homeless.
More than 43,000 migrants have arrived in Chicago since August 2022 when Republican Gov. Greg Abbott of Texas first ordered asylum-seekers be shuttled to Chicago and other northern cities to share the costs of the high number of people as well as to make a political statement about the nation’s immigration policies.
Black residents of Chicago expressed frustration during a city council meeting when authorities were set to vote on allocating $51 million for migrant care. They argued that instead of spending money on migrants, the city should prioritize its own communities. Caroline Ruff, founder of Black Lives Matter Women of Faith, emphasized the need to address homelessness and mental health within the local community. Andre Smith, CEO of Chicago Against Violence, criticized the allocation, pointing out that Black residents didn’t have the privilege to cross borders historically and called for reparations. Chicago has been receiving migrants from the border, and this decision sparked debate.
Additionally, over 600 community residents opposed the city’s plan to shut down a youth football program to house migrants in a neighborhood field house. While the situation is complex, it highlights the challenges faced by both migrants and local communities.
h/t Tonight We Ride!