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Addressing the Migrant Humanitarian Crisis

August 6, 2023

Members of the Catholic Parishes of Oak Park (CPOP) met on August 6, 2023, to discuss how we can respond to our baptismal call to welcome the stranger and serve those in need. Many of us have been involved in meeting the immediate needs of the asylum-seeking migrants sleeping on the floor of a nearby Chicago police station. We have donated meals, bedding, and clothes, organized showers, purchased socks and underwear, and set up trips to the laundromat. We have also been accompanying one asylum-seeking family since last fall and are in the process of helping to resettle and accompany two more families.

But that is not enough. As Catholics and as members of a well-resourced suburban community, we need to develop a local, sustainable response to this humanitarian crisis. The City of Chicago is overwhelmed. Nearly 12,000 migrants have arrived in Chicago since last fall, most being sent by bus from Texas. The migrants include families with small children, married couples, single adults, and seniors. From the bus station, the migrants are to be placed in city-run shelters where they await housing placement facilitated by Catholic Charities (CC) and New Life Center (NLC). CC and NLC are also overwhelmed and can’t meet the demand, and the result is 5,800 migrants stuck in shelters, some since last fall. With the shelters full, arriving migrants are taken to Chicago police stations where they sleep on the floor and are dependent on local volunteers for their food and other physical needs. Over 900 migrants are currently sleeping on the floor of Chicago police stations, including 45 at nearby District 15. Some migrants have been there for over 6 weeks, and new migrants are arriving every few days.

The most urgent needs are housing, jobs, legal assistance, and connecting to social services. As a Catholic community, how can we respond in conjunction with other local faith centers, community-based organizations, and our local government? If you are interested in volunteering to help meet the immediate needs of the migrants sleeping on the floor of the Austin-based police stations and/or would like to be part of a group looking to organize a broader, more sustainable response, please email us at immigrantministry@gmail.com. Thank you for your prayers and support!

Celine Woznica (Ascension and St. Edmund) and Margie Rudnik (St. Catherine of Siena – St. Lucy and St. Giles)