The report found that about 2,500 immigrants were living in squalid conditions in a city-run warehouse-turned-immigrant shelter in Chicago.
Chicago’s WTTW reported that the shelter is infested with rats and cockroaches, covered in rotting food and trash, and has problems including water quality issues and unresolved sewage issues.
Complaints about conditions at the shelter in the 2200 block of South Halstead Avenue were sent to Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson in October, ahead of the December incident in which an immigrant child died after becoming ill at Comer Children’s Hospital. This was revealed in an email. shelter.
Several other migrants at the same shelter also became ill within days of the child’s death. City officials have not yet released the child’s cause of death.
WTTW reported that an email dated October was sent to City Hall alerting Mayor Johnson’s administration to the dire conditions at the shelter. It was reportedly sent by Ward 11 Councilwoman Nicole Lee.
The department initially filed a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request for the email, but received an almost completely redacted document. But government watchdog group FOIA Bakery obtained the unredacted message and shared it with the broadcaster.
“The redacted sections state that the shelter has insufficient toilets, exposed pipes that carry raw sewage, is infested with cockroaches, has the potential for disease outbreaks that could make many people sick, and has limited access to food. They claim the water supply was inadequate,” WTTW reported.
The email also revealed that city officials were responding to the email and trying to confirm the situation.
Recently arrived migrants sit on the floor and cots of a temporary city-run shelter at O’Hare International Airport on August 31, 2023. (Armando L. Sanchez/Chicago Tribune/Tribune News Service via Getty Images)
Councilor Lee told the station: “I remain concerned about the living conditions inside the shelter.”
“Transparency regarding conditions in these shelters is critical and we are committed to providing information and accountability to ensure those in our care are treated with the humanity that everyone deserves.” We will continue to seek the same,” Lee added in a statement.
The city has a contract with a company called Favorite Staffing to maintain the shelter.
Favorite Staffing Vice President Keenan Driver told the station that the company takes complaints “very seriously.”
“Favorite Staffing takes all staff complaints very seriously as we are not only concerned about immigrants, but also the safety and well-being of our own staff,” the driver’s statement reads. .
The city issued a statement acknowledging the complaints and asserting that improvements were in progress.
statement Added According to the paper, “The shelter’s population has expanded rapidly, forcing the city to upgrade the shelter and accommodate hundreds of new evacuees at the same time.” guardian.
Meanwhile, the city continues to contract with more private organizations to deal with the wave of illegal immigrants entering the city in the wake of President Joe Biden’s border crisis.
Immigrants camp outside the First Precinct Police Department in Chicago on Saturday, Oct. 7, 2023. (AP Photo/Erin Hooley)
In January, the city announced a new agreement with a company associated with local fast-food restaurant Buona Beef to help feed thousands of undocumented immigrants in the city’s shelters. did.
The city awarded a $57 million contract to a company called 14 Parish and awarded $45 million in contracts to 77 communities to feed immigrants.
Joe Buonavolant Jr., one of the sons of Buona Beef’s founder, listed As executive director of Seventy-Seven Communities. According to Book Club Chicago, 77’s director is Mike Iovinelli, who is also vice president of Buona Beef’s catering company, Beyond Catering, and Buonavolant is not the only company connected to Buona Beef.
“Seventy-Seven Communities has been providing quality meals in the Chicagoland area for decades and has experience creating specific menus for groups with complex needs, such as Chicago Public Schools students. “Yes,” the city’s press release states.
Mayoral spokesperson Ronnie Reese said the city did not intentionally omit the Buona Beef link from its press release about the deal.
But the uproar comes amid growing calls for transparency over spending and contracts made by the mayor’s office.
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