The city continues to struggle to meet the daily demand of migrants moving to Chicago, and local organizations are seeking to overcome obstacles to offer assistance.
Right now, more than 300 migrants are living on CTA buses in the South Loop. While there, they are receiving warm meals and clothes, but hygiene and medical services are still needed.
“People who are here have been here for a week, and they have not yet had access to showers or any kind of routine medical care,” said Annie Gomberg, a lead volunteer working with migrants.
Gomberg said she contacted the local not-for-profit Shower Up to coordinate shower services for migrants on Wednesday morning. Gomberg said she also notified the city of the plan.
When Shower Up arrived to hook up the water and offer its services, the city turned its volunteers away.
The city offered this statement to NBC 5:
This morning Shower Up Chicago was invited to the Landing Zone by mutual aid groups without coordination with the City of Chicago. Personnel from Chicago’s Office of Emergency Management and Communications were unaware of this and without advance notice were not able to make the appropriate arrangements to accommodate them. This includes access to the water hook-up for the mobile shower trailer that can only be turned on with advance notice, it’s not a simple procedure. The City’s new arrivals response remains a challenging situation and we greatly appreciate the work done by mutual aid volunteers, the medical and healthcare provider partners who have all stepped up to help meet the needs of this population. Coordination and communication between the appropriate city agencies and mutual aid are key to making this a successful mission."
Local
The state of Illinois is offering money to the city to help manage the migrant crisis, that includes funding a new shelter that opened in Little Village Wednesday.
Gov. J.B. Pritzker said more help is still needed to get the situation under control.
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“Congress has to act,” Gov. Pritzker said, “We have at least one house of congress that isn’t under Democrats' control, and they are absolutely opposed to making progress on this issue, so I’m concerned.”
