Over 17,000 migrants from Latin American and Caribbean countries have been bused into Chicago since August 2022, the majority arriving since May 2023 when Title 42 expulsions ended. Chicago has struggled to house these new arrivals, and has resorted to hosting many in park field houses and police stations. As of October 13, about 3,000 migrants are being hosted at police stations, with hundreds of these families sleeping outside in recreational camping tents as the number of people allowed to stay inside the stations has been limited. To address the overflow problem, the city plans to create “base camps” where migrants will be sheltered in winterized tents. However, the failures of this plan and the city’s current response is reflected in the current health of migrants which has deteriorated as the temperature has dropped in the city.
Impact of Title 42
Title 42 was a Donald Trump-era program under which undocumented migrants coming to the US from Cuba, Haiti, Honduras, El Salvador, Venezuela, Mexico, and Nicaragua were detained. These migrants were forcibly sent to Mexico under the guise of limiting the spread of COVID-19. These restrictions caused a severe backlog in immigration cases. As the policy expired in May 2023, it fueled a surge in migration as migrants tried to get into the US either before Title 42 restrictions expired to avoid Biden’s new immigration measures, or after, due to a rumor that the end of Title 42 was to make immigration easier.
With a surge in migration, Texas Governor Greg Abbott and Florida Governor Ron DeSantis have refused to accept these recent migrants and have flown and bused these families to so-called “sanctuary cities,” or cities with municipal laws intended to protect undocumented immigrants.
Migrants out in the cold
Over the past two weeks, the city has experienced an increase in rainfall and cooling temperatures, dropping as low as 41°F (5°C) at night. As many families at police stations are forced to sleep outside in tents that are not waterproof and often without blankets, this has left many vulnerable to the common cold, the flu, COVID-19, and other diseases. “Almost everyone has a sore throat,” said a woman living outside of a southside police station. At the same station, a group of migrants told People’s Health Dispatch that they have not seen a doctor and the only medical care provided is to severely ill children. In these cases, police will call an ambulance for ailing children, but no common over-the-counter medicines or basic check-ups have been provided.
A volunteer at a West Side police station recalled an outbreak of hand-foot-and-mouth disease, a contagious virus, this past summer. Though hand-foot-and-mouth disease is not fatal, except in extreme cases where the person cannot swallow, the outbreak highlights that there is no protocol for isolating ill migrants. This is particularly alarming as rates of COVID-19 have risen the past few months, and the prevalence of other respiratory diseases, including respiratory syncytial virus (RSV), have increased. The same volunteer pointed out that even if migrants are sleeping in separate tents, shower days and meal times provide opportunities for infections to spread.
Maternal and child health suffers
Meanwhile, the number of pregnant migrants has not been tracked and many have claimed prenatal care is nonexistent or poor. A migrant staying in a Northwest side police station disclosed that a pregnant woman was bleeding, and the situation was met with inadequate care. It took several migrants a long time to convince police the woman required immediate medical attention. One mother at the same station reported that not only is emergency care difficult to receive, but prenatal vitamins and milk for babies and children are not supplied. The city only provides lunch and dinner for migrants; breakfast is cooked and served by volunteers. The majority of these meals are not made specific to the dietary needs of pregnant women.
Migrants that are staying inside the police station are sleeping on inflatable mattresses with their entire families.
Whether sleeping outside or inside the 24-hour police station, these living conditions disturb sleep, which is vital to both mental and physical health. Global health epidemiologist Dr. Lara Dugas said, “Disrupted and deficient sleep can be detrimental to cardiometabolic health, leading to increased prevalences of non-communicable diseases, particularly hypertension.”
Prevalence of heart attack significantly increases in the days following daylight savings time in the US, during which one hour of sleep is lost. Low quality sleep can also have deleterious effects on immune health, leaving one vulnerable to infections including COVID-19 and RSV.
Tents are not the answer, demand housing for all!
State and federal responses to the crisis are equally lacking and it is certain that the city’s plan to house migrants in tents will be detrimental to their health. Dugas stated, “Living outside is detrimental to health. Research shows that sleep is disrupted at both low and high temperatures. More sleep disruption means poorer health.”
Stable housing is a social determinant of health and one the city can address. There are thousands of empty apartments and houses in Chicago. There is no reason anyone in the city should be without a home. Chicago proclaims itself a “sanctuary city”, but the title rings hollow without meaningful support to incoming migrants.
Candice Choo-Kang is a project coordinator for an international non-communicable disease study. She is also a community organizer that works closely with the Albany Park community in Chicago through Pueblo Unido de Albany Park.
People’s Health Dispatch is a fortnightly bulletin published by the People’s Health Movement and Peoples Dispatch. For more articles and to subscribe to People’s Health Dispatch, click here.
