[remote or in person] Committee on Immigrant and Refugee Rights
Chicago City Council
Housing
Finance
121 N La Salle St, Chicago, Illinois 60602 Chicago, IL 60602 (Directions)
City Hall, 2nd floor, Council Chambers
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Pre-Research Context: This is a subject matter hearing called to discuss the roles of the Office of the Mayor, Office of Emergency Management and Communication (OEMC), the Chicago Police Department (CPD) and mutual aid groups in welcoming new arrivals.
See also:
- Chicago Sun-Times: Migrants would move from police stations to big tents in ‘winterized base camps’ under Chicago mayor’s new plan
- Documenters coverage of a similar meeting held on July 26, 2023
Check the source website for additional information
Reporting
Edited and summarized by the Chicago - IL Documenters Team
Live reporting by
Wendy Wei
Over 15,000 migrants, most seeking to escape the socioeconomic crisis in Venezuela, have come to Chicago since last August.
Hi, I’ll be live-tweeting today's City Council Committee on Immigrant and Refugee Rights from city hall starting at 9am #CHIdocumenters @CHIdocumenters Find the live stream here chicityclerk.com
chicityclerk.com
08:45 AM Sep 29, 2023 CDT
The official agenda is to discuss the roles of the Office of the Mayor, Office of Emergency Management and Communication (OEMC), the Chicago Police Department (CPD) and mutual aid groups in welcoming new arrivals.
The spotlight is on how the city will address their recent controversial signing of a $29.3mil contract with GardaWorld to build winterized base camps for new arrivals chicago.suntimes.com/city-hall/2023…
chicago.suntimes.com/city-hall/2023…
Public Comment period is open. Susan Avila is speaking virtually for the @CHECookCounty "This city's immigration policy must be consistent with the concept that housing is a human right." She presents a statement signed by 50+ public health advocates
@CHECookCounty Pastor Brown of a Lincoln Park church that has been housing asylum seekers since 2019 explains their model, which has launched 3 families successfully and currently houses 2 families. "Our effort is trying to get communities all over the city...to do the same thing."
@CHECookCounty Pastor Brown brings up issues they've encountered in getting city key cards. "There is violence happening, there's also extortion, so people are cutting in the line and then they are charging every person in line"
JR Fleming supports the building of base camps for migrants because "you cannot just place migrants in society because they are not aware of the law. When you look at the police reports ... somebody knowingly and willingly broke the law."
Zoe Lee has been protesting against illegal eminent domain since the City of Chi knocked down her mother's affordable housing. "You guys will be voted out if you do not start working on us. And when I say us I mean Black people."
Resident and teacher of the 47th ward is "deeply concerned" about the GardaWorld contract, asking for investment in CBOs. Her statement is interrupted with "boos" and "applause."
Ana de Stefano, resident of 25th and member of @TodoParaTodos35, says "it is absolutely immoral to take the money that is for this crisis and send it to a company with a record of international human rights abuse" including employment of former child soldiers.
George Blackmore gives an impassioned comment directed towards Black alderpersons to support the Black community and to remember that Black Chicagoans were brought to America on slave ships
Jessica Jackson warns Black alderpersons that they will lose support from the Black community if alderpersons support migrants. "Harold Washington did not mean that Hispanics could come here and invade black neighborhoods."
Denise Gordon "I voted for Mayor Johnson because of what he said on mental health...to help the homeless shelter" and does not like that city money is going towards supporting migrants with tents. "Do the same thing for [the homeless]"
Vazquez concludes public comment and begins subject matter hearing on the role of @ChicagoOEMC in the migrant response. "I am saddened...that we are on the precipice of this administration moving forward with building military grade tent base camps."
Slide shows 3 distinct periods of migrant arrivals since Aug 2022. Currently there are over 9300 people in shelters. In past 10 days, city transitioned 1500 people out of police stations into shelters.
Most current numbers on migrants and shelter capacity, shared by Beatriz Ponce de Leon. Presentation is interrupted repeatedly by public commenter saying the money is taken from the South Side.
Base camps are not the only solution, says Ponce de Leon. “We are still doubling down on opening up brick and mortar spaces,” calls it “building this parallel system” and reminds that “we are operating in a crisis mode.”
Announcement of new RFP to hire a food service provider to replace current vendor Open Kitchens. It will require service provider to work with smaller entities so "we are generating income from Chicago entities." Another RFP will be released in coming months to open new shelters
"We don't always get notice of when people are coming. ..we don't know how many people are on each bus, we don't know if they're individuals, if they're families with their babies on board," Ponce de Leon reminds the public
Ponce de Leon addresses base camps - "really more than just a tent structure. These are prefabricated, solid, insulated walls." Clarifies that there are additional generators as backup to make sure heating is adequate. The setup is approved by the American Red Cross for disasters
Clarifying the militarized nature of the base camps - "This is not how this will be operated. There will not be armed guards, there will be security and will be a place where people can come and go. They will be free to move."
Meeting moves on to Community Safety Committees to address community concerns, centers on "collaborative communication" through building a stronger community connections with community members, shelter residents, and shelter employees
Deputy Chief in charge of @Chicago_Police says that "our members have gone out of the way to make sure [asylum-seekers] are taken care of...They treated our asylum seekers as humans to be treated with dignity and respect."
@Chicago_Police As of yesterday, 2317 asylum seekers are awaiting placement in police stations and airports. Chung states "our stations weren't meant for residents living there. They weren't designed for that...It creates a condition where it's literally a public health emergency"
@Chicago_Police Estimated projected total spent on migrant response by end of 2023 is between $319.5-$362.9 million Blue line is actuals, red is estimated expenditures
@Chicago_Police “You’ll notice that the staffing is exorbitant.” Two strategies to reduce costs - first negotiated with Favorite a 40% reduction and hiring locally. This is not yet implemented in budget estimate. Second, meal services RFP will release next week to help reduce costs.
@Chicago_Police Requested Federal support includes flexible funding streams because "right now the fed gov requires us to utilize these funds for only covering the costs of somebody staying in shelter for 45 days. It is very restricted."
On thé expansion of temporary protected status and work authorization added for Venezuelans. 75% of shelter population is Venezuelan. “When you are able to work you are able to lessen your dependency on public dollars.” This portion drew questions on budget from audience.
Question from Alderperson - Is the funding gap only used to deal with folks in shelters? "No, the data is that the estimated expenses includes the base camp, and the maintenance of our current shelters brick and mortar."
Mobile Migrant Health Team, run by UIC medical students, is presenting. "We have spent about $20,000 in the first 3 or 4 months of our functioning. This is about the same amount of money that was spent one week salary of a single shelter nurse in December of last year.
MMHT is seeing increased patient populations. “We need collaboration from the city. Not a single dollar has come from the city.”
As speaker concludes, there are loud boos and supporting applause sustained from audience. “I do not want to ask anyone to leave but you will force us to do so if you are not allowing people to speak here.”
Alderman calls MMHT's work as "God's work" to which some audience members object. Vasquez calls for 5 min recess to ask some audience to leave, who repeat "find that South Shore money" as security arrives.
5-6 officers are surrounding the group asked to leave, who are refusing and shouting in protest, as multiple people film the situation.
Audience given option to stay and maintain decorum for the rest of meeting or, "if we ask you to leave and you resist, I will have you arrested," says a city rep when addressing them.
Audience remains seated and quiets down. Officers leave. Vasquez resumes meeting and Police Station Response Team presentation begins, as presented by a volunteer
Presenter says cost estimates for running the volunteer shelter are near $3 million, and says there has been no partnership with the City despite regular communication. "Labor must be compensated, or labor is being exploited, and that 'partnership' will not endure."
Regarding the tents, presenter states "GardaWorld has documented experience...in creating detention centers and committing human rights abuses and financial mismanagement"
Vice Chair Taylor is speaking. "GardaWorld should have been kicked out and never brought in in the first place...As much money as we said, how much are we really recycling into our communities?" She says the audience members who were asked to leave are rightfully mad.
"We are being made to choose one people over another. ...It is wrong to put these folks in tents...The UN should be here to arrest someone." Taylor points out that Black immigrants from Haiti and Nigeria are left out. "With the exception of Black folks, we are all immigrants."
"You're going to start a race war," warns Taylor, "Because you're choosing who you care for." Taylor reminds Committee that money for communities hosting migrants is what people care about, that people want to get paid.
In response to Taylor's critique that Favorite staffing from outside Chicago, "this is precisely why we put out the request for proposals for services so that we could have Chicago based neighborhood do the work."
Pacione-Zayas says that "the current procurement system does not allow us to move with expediency." It takes a long time to acquire property, she brings up CVS in Little Village which has been in discussion since May. "There's something wrong with how this system functions."
"We don't control the flow of buses. We got 50 expected this weekend," Pacione-Zayas says. Vasquez reminds Committee that the GardaWorld contract is an executive order from Mayor's Office, alderpersons cannot vote on it.
Why isn't the city changing the procurement system, asks Taylor. "We had 50 members look at the Municipal Code to meet change orders...it's an opportunity at the council to work with you to start getting together," responds Vasquez.
"We inherited these [service] contracts," reminds Pacione-Zayas and reiterates that immediate solutions were needed. "I'm with you in the frustration, I want to address it structurally because we've got to leave this government better than what we found."
Pacione-Zayas says there will be a new position the City will be posting, "a chief homelessness officer," state-funded for three years to coordinate across depts to support housing and pathways for homeownership.
Efforts supporting Bring Chicago Home include $60mil from the Fed. "We are building the infrastructure so that when we do have a permanent revenue stream, we have a bucket, a person who can make sure we are leveraging every opportunity," says Pacione-Zayas
New ask is around IL's welcoming state identity. City is asking the state to identify locations elsewhere in IL so that Chicago isn't overwhelmed. "We look to buy places within this state has has culturally congruent communities that will be able to provide wraparound supports."
The state hasn't agreed to open shelters in other areas of IL, but they did make $42.5 mil available for other municipalities to apply for funding to support the migrant response. State received applications from several municipalities, so there was interest.
Ald states that he doesn't get enough info on the "crisis" besides one email once a week, and needs to be kept in the loop of when shelters are coming to his area. "We can't just have an inner circle have all the input"
Question from 29th ward ald on what the plan is if the fed government denies 15,000 asylum-seeker applications? "If we say no, we will not receive buses...all of those individuals will become unhoused Chicagoans whether we want that or not," Ponce de Leon.
Ponce de Leon says Temporary Protected Status is now available for Venezuelans, as it has been for Afghan and Ukrainian refugees, which allows them to settle in Chicago for a while. More info on TPS here chicago.suntimes.com/2023/9/25/2388…
chicago.suntimes.com/2023/9/25/2388…
@chris29thward Asks that the level of communication between City Council members should reflect the level of crisis. Follow up question - what is the necessary budget and staff to manage this response? At least 10 more experts and 10 project managers, says Ponce de Leon
@chris29thward Addressing Pritzker's press comment asking if Chi has looked at all the options, Vasquez expresses frustration, "Mr. Governor, have you looked at all the options available?" The city has scouted over 200 locations
@chris29thward Ald asks, "other than the CVS location, has the state of IL offered to open any other shelter to assist Chicago?" No. "That is shameful...It's time for [Pritzker] to live up to his promise."
@chris29thward @CDRosa (35th) recaps that the city of Chi is operating 21 migrant shelters and the State of IL is operating zero. He brings up that NY State has a program that reimburses NYC for the costs incurred for the migrant response. Does IL? Not a formal one, says Pacione-Zayas.
@chris29thward @CDRosa @SigchoFor25 Calls for breakdown of the $300 mil budget and more support from the Governor and President. Reminds that it was the state of IL that denied @TodoParaTodos35's application to continue running.
@SigchoFor25 calls to modify the contracts practically to "have local support that is needed and works." "Companies from Texas and Florida don't care about our communities."
@SigchoFor25 Pacione-Zayas reiterates the purpose of the RFP for local orgs to operate shelters and employ locally. In terms of modifying contracts, there are existing process barriers for non profits to bid on contracts that will take time to change.
@SigchoFor25 @AldPatDowell3rd asks City to address that Catholic Charities is distributing vouchers to pre-dominantly Black wards and "it is disrupting." Dowell frankly states, "This is a business and we want to be part of this new business."
@SigchoFor25 @AldPatDowell3rd @AldPatDowell3rd asks the medical presenter what they're doing for Black immigrants, specifically Haiti. Doctor says their org has Haitian-Creole interpreters on call, but doesn't see this level of interpreters in airports and police stations.
@SigchoFor25 @AldPatDowell3rd @AldPatDowell3rd asks what other services would Garda be sub-contracted for base camps? Sleeping quarters, eating quarters, laundry are provided by Garda. Garda could sub-contract out for wraparound services i.e. after first 30 days of set up, sub-contracts go out to locals
@SigchoFor25 @AldPatDowell3rd Pacione-Zayas says everything is highly dependent on the location of the base camps and they are late on deciding on a location.
@SigchoFor25 @AldPatDowell3rd As Ponce de Leon explains how do Catholic Charity vouchers work, audience member disrupts with repeated shouts of "That's not true." He is asked to leave but call outs from audience continue.
@SigchoFor25 @AldPatDowell3rd Order resumes as 38th Ward Ald Sposato has the floor. He asks who makes the decision of how many people are allowed in police stations? Who sets that number?
@SigchoFor25 @AldPatDowell3rd Chung says that stations do not turn people away and try their best to accommodate. "There isn't an ideal ratio," Ponce de Leon. "We are at full capacity pretty much everywhere...We work with the police district at 7pm" to evaluate everyday. "We are playing a moving game."
@SigchoFor25 @AldPatDowell3rd @ald_nicolelee asks if council can get in their weekly briefing the number of people in police stations? 11th has the one of the most taxed police districts in terms of capacity and she personally counted 136 people, including children, in the 11th station.
@SigchoFor25 @AldPatDowell3rd @ald_nicolelee @ald_nicolelee asks what is the welcome procedures for new arrivals on how shelters work/what the process is going to be. Guadelupe Puga, a volunteer, says she rarely sees case managers on site. There's safety sensitivity on releasing number of folks at police stations.
@SigchoFor25 @AldPatDowell3rd @ald_nicolelee Ald. finds the Garda contract vague. Who is doing Garda's background checks for staff on-site? How would CPD respond to incidents enclosed encampments? What guarantee is there that Garda will share incidence reports with CPD? "There's a reason not to rush gov contracts."
@SigchoFor25 @AldPatDowell3rd @ald_nicolelee @ward32chicago brings up that Garda has been found to commit fraud on gov contracts. "That's a red flag." Garda has also been found to commit human trafficking. "We've got to be careful with these companies with sign contracts with."
@SigchoFor25 @AldPatDowell3rd @ald_nicolelee @ward32chicago Another Ald echoes Waguespack, is there a committee within the administration that we can go through to have a hearing with Garda and Catholic Charities directly. Council agrees they can commit to that.
@SigchoFor25 @AldPatDowell3rd @ald_nicolelee @ward32chicago Another Ald asks what are the metrics for success? What are the accountability measures if they do not meet the metrics? Pacione-Zayas says these are still in the works with Garda.
@SigchoFor25 @AldPatDowell3rd @ald_nicolelee @ward32chicago @DanielLaSpata asks if there's a way for organizations to serve as fiscal agents to guide mutual aid efforts so we can at least partially finance mutual aid work? City is exploring fiscal sponsorship for mutual aid orgs.
@SigchoFor25 @AldPatDowell3rd @ald_nicolelee @ward32chicago @DanielLaSpata @jessiefor26th asks about federal funding used by Gov Abbott to send migrants to Chicago. "We are not the ones to be mad at. We need to refocus the pain and anger we are feeling to the root cause of the problem."
@SigchoFor25 @AldPatDowell3rd @ald_nicolelee @ward32chicago @DanielLaSpata @jessiefor26th @Mariafor49 asks how to help medical students address migrant health needs. Ponce de Leon says there are state-level and federal-level conversations to build out a more robust medical response with additional funding.
@SigchoFor25 @AldPatDowell3rd @ald_nicolelee @ward32chicago @DanielLaSpata @jessiefor26th @Mariafor49 @Mariafor49 asks for a re-assessment of Catholic Charities, who are allegedly flying planes of migrants to Chicago from San Antonio. "Who is making money here?"
@SigchoFor25 @AldPatDowell3rd @ald_nicolelee @ward32chicago @DanielLaSpata @jessiefor26th @Mariafor49 Ald. @lenihoppenworth (48th) requests info on how we are informing Chicagoans and new arrivals about migration policy news/updates. The website is up and the real-time dashboard is getting updated and released next week. Ponce de Leon acknowledges need for a better resource hub
@SigchoFor25 @AldPatDowell3rd @ald_nicolelee @ward32chicago @DanielLaSpata @jessiefor26th @Mariafor49 @lenihoppenworth @AldMattMartin Are there any properties that the Archdiocese offered that the City declined? How many migrants have used the rental assistance program? How is the city engaging service providers to address gender-based challenges in shelters?
@SigchoFor25 @AldPatDowell3rd @ald_nicolelee @ward32chicago @DanielLaSpata @jessiefor26th @Mariafor49 @lenihoppenworth @AldMattMartin Ald asks for more info on federal funding to other states to bus migrants to Chicago and how are integration efforts going?
@SigchoFor25 @AldPatDowell3rd @ald_nicolelee @ward32chicago @DanielLaSpata @jessiefor26th @Mariafor49 @lenihoppenworth @AldMattMartin Vasquez is closing out the meeting, thanks those who presented today and the public for coming out. Motion to adjourn is gaveled in.
@SigchoFor25 @AldPatDowell3rd @ald_nicolelee @ward32chicago @DanielLaSpata @jessiefor26th @Mariafor49 @lenihoppenworth @AldMattMartin Meeting adjourned at 1:57 p.m. This concludes the Committee on Immigrant and Refugee Rights. For more meeting coverage, check out . documenters.org
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