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Thousands of Biden illegal migrants scramble to find homes and work as mass evictions from Chicago shelters loom
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Why Let Them In?
Feb 11, 2024, 10:04:59 PMFeb 11
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CHICAGO — Maria Cinfuentes stood outside Chicago’s largest migrant shelter
on a windy morning last week, rubbing her cold hands together and worrying
about her future.
She learned last week that her stay at the shelter, the only home she’s
known since arriving in the United States from Venezuela in December, will
come to an end next month. But she has no idea where she’ll go next.
“I don’t have a job. My husband doesn’t have a job,” the 30-year-old
mother of three told NBC News in Spanish. “I don’t know anyone here. How
am I going to pay rent?”
More than 13,000 migrants like Cinfuentes are under pressure to find homes
and work before they are mass-evicted from city-operated shelters to
conserve the budget and make room for newcomers.
But in interviews last week with more than a dozen migrants, many who
spoke to NBC News expressed fear that they won’t make that deadline,
especially because it is nearly impossible for the newest arrivals to get
rental assistance and quick access to work permits. Advocates say it’s
unlikely that everyone will be able to successfully transition out of the
shelters and instead will need to reapply for access to another shelter.
They fear some will end up homeless.
“I can’t even sleep. I’m staying up all night thinking,” Cinfuentes said.
“It makes me sick.”
Hoping to improve her chances, she said she has started walking around the
city holding a sign that reads, “I am looking for work. Help me please
find a job.”
‘Where am I going to go?’
As of Thursday, more than 13,200 migrants were living in 28 shelters run
by the city and state, according to a city census of new arrivals. Most of
them have arrived since June 2023 as part of a busing campaign by Texas
Gov. Greg Abbott, a Republican, who is seeking stricter security at the
southern border. Last month, Abbott said he has sent more than 100,000
migrants to so-called sanctuary cities since April 2022, about 35,000 of
them to Chicago.
Chicago, along with New York City and Denver, have struggled to keep up
with the demand for housing and social services brought on by the influx.
And in response, Chicago’s Mayor Brandon Johnson put a 60-day cap on how
long people can stay in city-operated migrant shelters. The first wave of
evictions will come in mid-March, with 5,673 people expected to be removed
from their current shelters by the end of April.
Daniel Vizcaino, a 20-year-old Venezuelan asylum-seeker, has been told
that his new move-out date is in early April.
“It really stresses me out,” he said. “What am I going to do? Where am I
going to go?”
He’s been looking for housing since December. Although he has a case
manager to oversee his search and three months of rental assistance to
offer a potential landlord, he doesn’t have any leads.
Vizcaino spends his days trying to speed up the process by scrolling
through Facebook Marketplace or walking around the city in search of “For
Rent” signs.
He passes along whatever he finds to his case manager and waits for good
news that never comes. Sometimes, he says, even if an apartment is willing
to rent to migrants, the rent is too expensive once the rental assistance
runs out. Catholic Charities, which is helping migrants with rental
assistance move from shelters and hotels, says it has connected 11,891
people in Chicago to other housing.
“I’ve been trying for months and still nothing,” Vizcaino said. “I feel
desperate because I really want to get out of here.”
‘It’s just not sustainable’
Vizcaino and others face long odds in putting the pieces together at all,
let alone in time to meet the looming eviction deadline.
About 7,000 people, roughly half of the migrants in shelters, do not have
access to rental assistance because they arrived after the state cut the
program, Cristina Pacione-Zayas, the mayor’s deputy chief of staff, said.
That means that they are under even greater pressure to find work to be
able to afford rent.
But migrants who arrived in Chicago and elsewhere after July 31 are not
eligible for an extension of what’s known as “temporary protected status,”
which offers temporary relief from deportation and the right to obtain
work authorization.
Without that protection, most migrants who qualify have to wait about six
months after filing their complete asylum applications before they can
receive work permits.
A majority of the migrants coming to Chicago are escaping political and
economic strife in Venezuela and do not have family or friends in the U.S.
to help them.
The Rev. Kenneth Phelps, who helps migrants find housing and other
resources through the Concord Baptist Church, said the lack of rental
assistance and work permits has made it “really impossible” for some
migrants to leave the shelter system.
“If they don’t have work permits and they don’t have valid jobs, then they
really can’t afford to live, to rent apartments,” he said. “Even with
rental assistance, they won’t be able to sustain it beyond that.”
Those who are unable to find housing after they are evicted will be sent
back to the city’s “landing zone” for new migrants and allowed to reapply
for shelter, though it is unclear what that process will look like and how
many people will be placed in another shelter. Advocates fear that when
the time comes, it could create chaos as large numbers of migrants need
placement.
The city’s Family and Support Services Commissioner Brandie Knazze said in
January that disability, bereavement, gender-based violence and pregnancy
would be among the “general categories for extension” of current shelter
stays.
Johnson has said Chicago is spending about $1.5 million per day to provide
temporary shelter, food and other necessities to migrants and that the
potential of running out of money is part of the reason behind the push to
make room in the shelters for the newly arrived. The city allocated $150
million to the migrant crisis in its 2024 fiscal year budget.
Johnson and others, including the Democratic governors of eight states,
have urged the federal government to provide funding to ease the burden.
They have also called for an increase in access to work authorization and
faster approvals for those who qualify for work permits.
Pacione-Zayas, who oversees the city’s migrant response, said the city is
working closely with the state to find apartments for the asylum-seekers
but is in need of additional state and federal resources to make that
happen.
“It’s just not sustainable,” she said.
The city has experienced a roughly fivefold increase in its shelter
population since Johnson took office in May 2023, she said.
Johnson is a typical ignorant Democrat patsy. He is a follower and a
puppet.
More sanctuary city left-wing whining at the link.
https://news.yahoo.com/migrants-chicago-edge-evictions-temporary-
120000037.html
on a windy morning last week, rubbing her cold hands together and worrying
about her future.
She learned last week that her stay at the shelter, the only home she’s
known since arriving in the United States from Venezuela in December, will
come to an end next month. But she has no idea where she’ll go next.
“I don’t have a job. My husband doesn’t have a job,” the 30-year-old
mother of three told NBC News in Spanish. “I don’t know anyone here. How
am I going to pay rent?”
More than 13,000 migrants like Cinfuentes are under pressure to find homes
and work before they are mass-evicted from city-operated shelters to
conserve the budget and make room for newcomers.
But in interviews last week with more than a dozen migrants, many who
spoke to NBC News expressed fear that they won’t make that deadline,
especially because it is nearly impossible for the newest arrivals to get
rental assistance and quick access to work permits. Advocates say it’s
unlikely that everyone will be able to successfully transition out of the
shelters and instead will need to reapply for access to another shelter.
They fear some will end up homeless.
“I can’t even sleep. I’m staying up all night thinking,” Cinfuentes said.
“It makes me sick.”
Hoping to improve her chances, she said she has started walking around the
city holding a sign that reads, “I am looking for work. Help me please
find a job.”
‘Where am I going to go?’
As of Thursday, more than 13,200 migrants were living in 28 shelters run
by the city and state, according to a city census of new arrivals. Most of
them have arrived since June 2023 as part of a busing campaign by Texas
Gov. Greg Abbott, a Republican, who is seeking stricter security at the
southern border. Last month, Abbott said he has sent more than 100,000
migrants to so-called sanctuary cities since April 2022, about 35,000 of
them to Chicago.
Chicago, along with New York City and Denver, have struggled to keep up
with the demand for housing and social services brought on by the influx.
And in response, Chicago’s Mayor Brandon Johnson put a 60-day cap on how
long people can stay in city-operated migrant shelters. The first wave of
evictions will come in mid-March, with 5,673 people expected to be removed
from their current shelters by the end of April.
Daniel Vizcaino, a 20-year-old Venezuelan asylum-seeker, has been told
that his new move-out date is in early April.
“It really stresses me out,” he said. “What am I going to do? Where am I
going to go?”
He’s been looking for housing since December. Although he has a case
manager to oversee his search and three months of rental assistance to
offer a potential landlord, he doesn’t have any leads.
Vizcaino spends his days trying to speed up the process by scrolling
through Facebook Marketplace or walking around the city in search of “For
Rent” signs.
He passes along whatever he finds to his case manager and waits for good
news that never comes. Sometimes, he says, even if an apartment is willing
to rent to migrants, the rent is too expensive once the rental assistance
runs out. Catholic Charities, which is helping migrants with rental
assistance move from shelters and hotels, says it has connected 11,891
people in Chicago to other housing.
“I’ve been trying for months and still nothing,” Vizcaino said. “I feel
desperate because I really want to get out of here.”
‘It’s just not sustainable’
Vizcaino and others face long odds in putting the pieces together at all,
let alone in time to meet the looming eviction deadline.
About 7,000 people, roughly half of the migrants in shelters, do not have
access to rental assistance because they arrived after the state cut the
program, Cristina Pacione-Zayas, the mayor’s deputy chief of staff, said.
That means that they are under even greater pressure to find work to be
able to afford rent.
But migrants who arrived in Chicago and elsewhere after July 31 are not
eligible for an extension of what’s known as “temporary protected status,”
which offers temporary relief from deportation and the right to obtain
work authorization.
Without that protection, most migrants who qualify have to wait about six
months after filing their complete asylum applications before they can
receive work permits.
A majority of the migrants coming to Chicago are escaping political and
economic strife in Venezuela and do not have family or friends in the U.S.
to help them.
The Rev. Kenneth Phelps, who helps migrants find housing and other
resources through the Concord Baptist Church, said the lack of rental
assistance and work permits has made it “really impossible” for some
migrants to leave the shelter system.
“If they don’t have work permits and they don’t have valid jobs, then they
really can’t afford to live, to rent apartments,” he said. “Even with
rental assistance, they won’t be able to sustain it beyond that.”
Those who are unable to find housing after they are evicted will be sent
back to the city’s “landing zone” for new migrants and allowed to reapply
for shelter, though it is unclear what that process will look like and how
many people will be placed in another shelter. Advocates fear that when
the time comes, it could create chaos as large numbers of migrants need
placement.
The city’s Family and Support Services Commissioner Brandie Knazze said in
January that disability, bereavement, gender-based violence and pregnancy
would be among the “general categories for extension” of current shelter
stays.
Johnson has said Chicago is spending about $1.5 million per day to provide
temporary shelter, food and other necessities to migrants and that the
potential of running out of money is part of the reason behind the push to
make room in the shelters for the newly arrived. The city allocated $150
million to the migrant crisis in its 2024 fiscal year budget.
Johnson and others, including the Democratic governors of eight states,
have urged the federal government to provide funding to ease the burden.
They have also called for an increase in access to work authorization and
faster approvals for those who qualify for work permits.
Pacione-Zayas, who oversees the city’s migrant response, said the city is
working closely with the state to find apartments for the asylum-seekers
but is in need of additional state and federal resources to make that
happen.
“It’s just not sustainable,” she said.
The city has experienced a roughly fivefold increase in its shelter
population since Johnson took office in May 2023, she said.
Johnson is a typical ignorant Democrat patsy. He is a follower and a
puppet.
More sanctuary city left-wing whining at the link.
https://news.yahoo.com/migrants-chicago-edge-evictions-temporary-
120000037.html
Tommy Bagpipes
Feb 20, 2024, 7:04:53 PMFeb 20
to
On Sunday, February 11, 2024 at 9:04:59 PM UTC-6, Why Let Them In? wrote:
How many bus tickets did Uihlien buy?
How many bus tickets did Uihlien buy?
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