Brennan O’Connell-Miller

Nourishing Hope volunteers packing food

In August of 2022, Governor Greg Abbott of Texas ordered for migrants, primarily from Latin America, to be bussed out of Texas and into cities like Washington, D.C., New York City, and Chicago. Since then, over 19,000 migrants have arrived in Chicago, with 11,700 being taken to different shelters around the city. 

Stephen Tentler is a recently retired police officer, who used to work at O’Hare Airport. Tentler says that in the beginning of this crisis, around 3-5 migrants were arriving at O’Hare every day, saying that local governments from New Mexico or Texas put them on a plane which landed in O’Hare. Soon, these arrivals escalated to around 200-300 people per day. While the city was originally only housing these migrants in police stations, park districts, and homeless shelters, Tentler said that this summer municipal buildings got overwhelmed and, “the airport started placing migrants in the terminals and the bus shuttle center.” As of October 5, there were at least 800 migrants in the O’Hare airport. 

However, the current city plan for dealing with this crisis is not housing them in airports, but in municipal buildings, such as police stations and public park facilities. Director of Policy and Neighborhood services Coleman McJessy outlined that after these migrants arrive in Chicago, they are sent by the city to a police station so that the 311 system can register them and create a service request number, so they can track these people and start providing them with services. The 47th ward is mostly working with the 19th Precinct Police office on Addison to house these migrants.

Consequently, conditions in these stations are less than ideal. McJessy stated that, “As the numbers have increased, understandably, police stations are not a place for people to sleep, and are supposed to be holding 200 new neighbors, and the process to get folks into shelters isn’t immediate.” While being housed in these municipal buildings, there is very little privacy and it is severely lacking in many resources. In many stations, there is no kitchen area, so even if the migrants are given food, it is difficult for them to find a way to cook it. 

The migrant crisis has also been difficult on the officers working in the station. Joe Connolly, who is a detective that works at both the 19th district station and the station on Belmont, said that currently, there are over 100 migrants living in the station. Over the past three months, different people have been shipped into the station, lived there for a couple days, and then taken away, only for new migrants to be brought to the station later. Connolly states that the police station just doesn’t have the resources for housing all these people and that, “we can try our best, but, eventually it’s just gonna not work.”

While this crisis has greatly impacted our community, McJessy noted that the people in the area have been extremely welcoming and compassionate towards these new arrivals and that many, “want to see how they can help their new neighbors and help folks who have been just through an incredible ordeal adjust to life here in Chicago.”

This sentiment is shared by the DePaul Prep administration, and as many of these migrants have arrived into DePaul Prep’s surrounding area, the Mission and Ministry team have thought a lot about how to help this crisis. These migrants are arriving from different countries, many in Latin America, and are entering because of political or economic turmoil in their home countries. Campus Minister and Experiential Service Coordinator Griffin Burris said that the team has discussed the crisis at many of their team meetings and has sent out emails on the crisis to faculty and staff members on how to help.

Since DePaul Prep is a Vincentian school, there is an extra emphasis on serving the community. As Vincent DePaul asked, “What must be done?”, DePaul Prep students are also expected to ask the Vincentian question in their everyday lives. Burris stated that along with asking this question, it’s important for students to realize, “so it’s bigger than what’s happening in Chicago. It’s bigger than one precinct or one neighborhood. So recognizing the global systems that have led to it, as well as how does the city respond, then even in what small ways” 

After recognizing the span of this issue, students can then live out their Vincentian mission. As Vincent DePaul wanted to feed the hungry, house the homeless and clothe the naked, DePaul Prep students should work to help these migrants any way that they can. However, students shouldn’t look at these service options as a duty or obligation, but instead an opportunity. Burris said, “as a school, we have the opportunity to help. So we should be grateful for the opportunity to go and do it.”

Additionally, the school has partnered with Nourishing Hope to have four grade level food drives. These food drives are helping to support increased need this holiday season, and Nourishing Hope is always welcoming food and monetary donations. 

Along with participating in their grade level food drives, there are many other ways for DePaul Prep students to get involved. For example, there is an Amazon wishlist, where you can just go online and buy something on the list and it will be given to the people who need it. Students can also donate to the various clothing drives at the St. Vincent DePaul Ssociety, which is working to provide winter clothes and boots, as winter is fast approaching. 

DePaul Prep students could also work with Nourishing Hope, outside of just donating to their food drives. Nourishing Hope is one of Chicago’s largest and longest-operating food pantries, and they work with more than 30 other nonprofits, schools, and housing developments in the city to provide food to thousands of people throughout Chicago. According to CEO Kellie O’Connell, they are currently serving over 30% more people than last year, and the need is growing. They are in need of volunteers and O’Connell says she, “would encourage groups of students to sign up and volunteer together!”

The alderman’s office has also been working with many different organizations to provide aid, including many mutual aid efforts to ensure food, showers, and clean clothing to people going through the city shelter system. They have also worked with Catholic organizations, including Saint Mary of the Lake Catholic Church, which has been helping provide showers and a home for donations. 

While working with these organizations does help the crisis, what is really needed is support from the federal government. As McJessy said, “ it costs a lot of money to create shelters in the you know, house folks, make sure that they have food and make sure that they’re welcomed here in Chicago. And so we really need federal money to help with a federal problem.”

The arrival of these migrants have created many new challenges for the city to deal with, as well as exacerbating issues that already exist, As O’Connell stated, “In a city of longtime racial inequities, tensions run high over the allocation of resources. And of course, there are political undertones to much of the discourse around this topic. What I firmly believe is that we’re a strong and compassionate city, and we will get through this together.” 

In order to continue creating housing for these migrants, the city needs federal funds. For example, if Chicago wanted to renovate old buildings into housing for migrants, they could do so with more federal money. Another issue facing these migrants is getting work permits. They aren’t allowed to get work permits until six months after coming into the country, and when they do, it is a paper application mailed to them, which is extremely difficult for people who don’t speak English to complete. This is an issue for the federal government, to find a way that these migrants can get a work permit more easily. 

Overall, the most important thing that students could do to help this crisis, is to exercise a little bit of compassion. As McJessy stated, “helping them, helping each other, helping our community is at the heart of what the 47th ward is, and the heart of what Chicago is.” 

Here is a list of things that DePaul Prep students could do to help: 

• List of places where you could donate 
• Volunteer information from the Illinois Department of Human Services
• Volunteer opportunities at St. Clement
• Volunteer with Cradles to Crayons
• Nourishing Hope Chicago