You may have asked yourself that question in August 2022 when the Texas Governor sent migrants and asylum seekers who crossed the border into the U.S. to Democratic-led cities including New York City, Washington D.C, and Chicago. As of August 2023, the city of Chicago has received over 13,500 men, women and children. Many of these travelers have no connection to our city, no family members and no where to go. Currently there are around 1,940 people sleeping at police stations around the city, ORD and MDW while they wait for beds in shelters which are limited and at capacity.
Many people are coming from Venezuela which is experiencing unprecedented and ongoing violence and political turmoil. They travel through one of the world's most dangerous migration routes, The Darien Gap, into Central America and Mexico, and evetually arrive to the U.S. -Mexico border. New arrivals are processed by Customs and Border Protection at a U.S. port of entry and undergo a credible fear interview to request the opportunity to apply for asylum. Once processed, thousands are bused to Chicago from Texas and Colorado.
We are just humans helping humans. Mutual aid means that individuals help each other survive when the larger systems in place are not able to act fast enough. Mutual aid programs are run by volunteers who want to make a material difference today rather than waiting for businesses or governments to intervene. This truly is a crisis. Our new neighbors need help now. We've created this group to help support the immediate needs of our new neighbors.Â