Chicago officials on Sunday began evicting some migrants from shelters, joining other cities that have made similar moves to ease pressure on overstretched resources.
The process is starting gradually. Out of the nearly 11,000 migrants living in 23 homeless shelters in Chicago, according to the Office of Emergency Management and Communications, a fraction — 34 single adults — were required to leave on Sunday.
Many people will be eligible for exemptions. They will be determined on a case-by-case basis, city officials said, for pregnant women, people with certain medical issues and migrants who are already in the process of securing housing. Families with children can receive renewable 30-day extensions.
But officials said that more than 2,000 people would be evicted by the end of April. And many families with children may be forced to exit the shelter network altogether by the summer.
Backed by an army of volunteers, Chicago and other cities have found shelter for migrants, enrolled their children in schools, provided food assistance and held workshops to help them fill out paperwork to apply for work permits.
But housing migrants has been draining city coffers — Chicago has received more than 37,000 migrants since August 2022. Overall, in the past year, hundreds of thousands of migrants have ended up in large cities.
