Chicago police stations clear of migrants for first time since spring

For the first time in at least eight months, no asylum seekers were being housed in Chicago police district buildings as of Saturday morning, according to the city.

Nearly 190 new arrivals were still awaiting shelter placement at O’Hare Airport, but the clearing of CPD stations marks an ebb in a crisis that has exhausted city resources and highlighted racial tensions across Chicago.

In mid-October, a peak of about 3,300 asylum seekers were living inside or outside police stations, though the 24th District had been clear since July 21, officials said.

Mayor Brandon Johnson had pledged to move the asylum seekers to other shelters before winter, which officially begins next week.

“We’re grateful for every shelter, faith leader and anyone who has allowed us to move new arrivals off the floors of police stations, but we know more space is needed,” a spokesperson for Johnson’s said. “We’re still moving with urgency to find more temporary housing for asylum seekers, especially as the winter months approach.”

Nearly 14,000 migrants from the southern U.S. border are being housed at 27 city-run shelters. The city is currently negotiating with the Archdiocese of Chicago to set up temporary lease agreements at empty church and school buildings, the first of which is expected to open next month.

Katharina Koch, a volunteer who had been helping new arrivals at the 16th District police station in Jefferson Park, said the move was “a great thing,” but that she was concerned about volunteers having access to help at the other shelters.

Many haven’t had community spaces for ESL classes or job training, while she’s also worried about transparency over “quantity and quality” issues with food and living conditions. Many new arrivals were given expired meals early in the crisis.

“There’s not really transparency,” Koch said. “We saw how abusive this structure can be.”

Koch said existing systems like libraries — which she said helped her build skills and community after moving to the U.S. from Germany — could help fill the gap, though many are too far from shelters to be accessible.

She also worried about where asylum seekers who have been dropped from shelters, whether it be for curfew violations or housing plans that fell through, would end up.

Koch was, however, holding out hope that the promise of wraparound services from the city could greatly improve the lives of asylum seekers before they’re forced out of shelters after 60 days — in addition to the volunteer teams who are “still providing.”