Chicago officials have begun evicting from city shelters migrants who have overstayed a 60-day limit, enforcing a controversial policy that has created confusion and havoc for the newly arrived.
Starting Monday, the city began removing migrants from Chicago’s 23 homeless shelters.
Of the more than 10,000 migrants in city shelters, five were required to leave on Monday under a new policy limiting shelter stays to 60 days, NBC News reported. Three migrants were evicted on Sunday, the Chicago Tribune reported.
While more people were scheduled to be evicted, many have received housing extensions due to health-related concerns or because they are applying for housing aid and other city benefits, Chicago’s CBS affiliate reported.
Still, municipal officials said that more than 2,000 migrants will be forced out of the shelter system by April, the New York Times reported. Those with children, who were previously given more time to stay in city shelters, may lose their housing by the end of summer.
Those affected by the latest policy have expressed frustration.
Franklin Romero, a 29-year-old Venezuelan immigrant, was ordered to leave a shelter in Chicago’s Southside by Monday at 12.30pm central time. “It was unbelievable. We have no stability,” Romero said to NBC.
Romero told NBC that he felt rushed in the eviction process and didn’t know where he would be placed next. “It was clear that I needed to leave, and I respected that, but the treatment, it was a lack of respect,” he said.
Moisés López, 21, told the Tribune that he and others were told by shelter staff that their shelter would be closing.
When asked about the forthcoming evictions, López said: “This is just the way life is for us … The uncertainty – it’s not easy. There are many people who can’t work, and we don’t know what we’re going to do.”
More than 37,000 migrants have arrived to Chicago since 2022. An influx of immigrants have also been bussed to other Democrat-led cities, including New York and Los Angeles, by the Texas governor, Greg Abbott, and other Republican leaders.
Chicago, under former mayor Lori Lightfoot, previously vowed to welcome arriving immigrants. But city officials say they have since struggled to provide for the large number of migrants in their care.
Horrific conditions have also been discovered in shelters housing migrants. Roaches, rodents and other issues were discovered at a migrants’ shelter where a five-year-old boy died in December, Borderless magazine first reported.
Volunteers assisting newly arriving migrants have also denounced the 60-day policy, arguing that many people need more time to find their footing.
“Thirty more days is not enough time. They need the tools to set them up in order for them to succeed in this community,” said Maria Perez, a volunteer with social service provider Southwest Collective, to NBC.
