New Arrivals Mission Update
This is a long post, so here are highlights of the information covered here as you scroll down to read more:
Introduction
Stats as of June 20, 2024
Landing Zone Updates
Work Authorization Events
Legal Clinics
Volunteer Coordination
Introduction
Since August 2022, Texas Governor Greg Abbott has bussed hundreds of thousands of asylum seekers across the United States. The City of Chicago has received the third-most asylum seekers of all major cities in the country, second to New York and Denver. The City’s goal is to provide short-term, emergency shelter to manage this humanitarian crisis, while making long-term investments in the City’s capacity to handle future challenges related to displacement.
The City of Chicago, in partnership with the State of Illinois and Cook County, has worked to support new arrivals on the path to self-sufficiency by providing basic necessities including food, temporary emergency shelter, urgent medical care, education, vaccines, and case management and resettlement supports. At its peak, the City provided temporary emergency shelter to more than 15,000 new arrivals through a network of nearly 30 City-operated shelters while receiving more than 2,000 new arrivals per week.
As of of June 20, 2024:
43,751 new arrivals have come through Chicago’s shelter system
11,692 new arrival children have enrolled in CPS
6,310 individuals are currently staying in shelters; 2,264 are minors
7,625 work permit applications have been submitted to United States Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS)
5,306 leases have been signed via Catholic Charities
5,119 households have moved out of shelters via Catholic Charities
17 new arrivals shelters are operating in Chicago
Landing Zone
As of March 8, the city’s Landing Zone at 800 S Desplaines is available to receive walk-ins.
The State-operated Intake Center opened adjacent to the City’s Landing Zone on Monday, February 26th. The Intake Center prioritizes outward migration for New Arrivals and operates Monday through Saturday, 8am-8pm.
Work Authorization Events
The Resurrection Project and the State - in collaboration with the CIty and federal governments, and others - are coordinating efforts to centralize and expedite application preparation via large-scale workshops for new arrivals who are eligible for Temporary Protected Status (TPS) and/or Employment Authorization Documents (EAD).
Daily TPS/EAD workshops re-launched on June 14th.
Workshops are twice a week, Mondays and Fridays, serving approximately 50-60 applicants per day.
Mondays are reserved for shelter residents. USCIS is on-site on Mondays.
Fridays are a combination of shelter residents and other community members. An attorney or a DOJ representative will assist in correctly filing their application. Workshop participants wlll not be assigned an attorney or DOJ representative to represent them in their case.
Legal Clinics
Metropolitan Family Service’ Legal Aid Society hosts weekly legal clinics on Tuesdays, Wednesdays, and Thursdays. The goal is to support new arrivals with a variety of legal support including change of venue, changes of address, and asylum claims. Clinics prioritize new arrivals in shelter whose 1-year anniversary to the US is coming up.
Wednesdays and Thursdays are dedicated to changes of address, changes of venue, and initial review of asylum claims. New arrivals who have previously filed for asylum and have passed 150 days after filing will get support with EAD (work permit) applications under asylum.
Tuesdays are dedicated to supporting asylum applications for anyone deemed to have a strong claim.
Registration of required: https://cilsc.metrofamily.org/.
Volunteer Coordination
Chicago Cares and Chicago Refugee Coalition are merging volunteer orientation and scheduling systems to improve efficiency. Volunteers will have seamless access to both platforms. This initiative supports scheduling volunteers for opportunities with community partners like Onward Neighborhood House and New Life Centers’ Food Pantries. To volunteer visit: theHUB.
If you represent a community-based organization that would like to connect with Chicago Cares to receive volunteers to support their work, please reach out to Marissa Arrez at marissa.arrez@cityofchicago.org.
