:quality(70)/cloudfront-us-east-1.images.arcpublishing.com/tronc/QCQZQVL6OVBKVM7XAI64FF6XIM.JPG)
Regarding the editorial “Spiraling migrant crisis, not Gaza, needs full City Council attention” (Dec. 20): I agree with the Tribune Editorial Board. I remember the state’s impressive emergency medical facility at McCormick Place during the COVID-19 crisis. I see the difference now when a different international crisis is put on the shoulders of a municipal government alone.
The editorial board writes: “Why should this time be any different?” Indeed.
On Monday, I addressed the many crises facing my constituents. Chicago is home to the largest Palestinian American community in the U.S., and my constituents have already endured the trauma of family members being killed in Gaza. In committee, I addressed these crimes funded by billions upon billions of our tax dollars. Not even a fraction of that funding has been directed to address the migrant crisis at home — a failure to value the lives of brown children at home just as the federal government disregards the lives of brown children abroad. The pope has called the actions of the Israeli government in Gaza “terrorism” — and the editorial board has the audacity to claim attention paid to this genocide is “ideological”? I accept accountability for failing to cage my humanity to human-made borders.
Following the committee meeting, I went to the Pilsen shelter and spent the remainder of the afternoon and evening speaking with shelter residents, parents with sick children and volunteers critical of the shelter’s deficiencies, as well as coordinating efforts to improve the quality of life for my newest constituents.
Instead of being relocated quietly with dignity, as the Department of Homeland Security has done for Ukrainian refugees, my Venezuelan cousins have been made a spectacle by our bigoted federal government. Mayor Brandon Johnson’s administration is using local departments to respond to a crisis of international proportions, rapidly raising up shelter after shelter. Gov. J.B. Pritzker, to date, has created zero shelters. Neither DHS nor the Federal Emergency Management Agency has stepped in to offer support.
It is no wonder the Pilsen shelter, intended for 1,000 migrants, now houses more than double. The state and federal government are failing to meet this moment, and our media fail to hold them accountable.
My heart is with the family of young Jean Carlo Martinez, and I will continue to fight for our institutions at all levels to respect the lives of our new neighbors by investing in their dignity and care today.
— Ald. Byron Sigcho-Lopez, 25th
“Send migrants to Washington, and put them on the White House lawn,” a Portage Park resident said, as quoted in the Tribune story “Tempers flare over new temporary migrant site” (Dec. 20).
As if migrants are objects, packages misdirected, to be shipped elsewhere. Placed on a lawn.
Of course, I agree with the resident that veterans who are unhoused should be served!
Any real solutions have to begin by acknowledging the humanity of the migrants — people who left horrific violence, hoping our land would be a refuge — as well as the humanity of all who are unhoused. It shouldn’t be “either/or.”
Let’s start with realizing that migrants and others who are unhoused are people just like you and me, like those of us lucky enough to have warmth on bitter days.
— Diane O’Neill, Chicago
The Tribune Editorial Board gets it right with its “Spiraling migrant crisis” editorial. I’d go further to say that those wasting taxpayer dollars on something that does not relate to the city of Chicago should be voted out at the next election.
Lastly, there can be no permanent cease-fire anywhere where terrorists are concerned. Hamas is using the people of Gaza as human shields. It’s despicable and the reason Israel must complete the process of eradicating Hamas in Gaza. Israel should of course be taking care to avoid civilian casualties and working to get civilians out of harm’s way, but it appears there are some severe problems in that regard.
President Joe Biden’s administration has been on the correct side and is pressuring Israel to control its behavior while supporting the effort to eliminate Hamas. Giving up and allowing Hamas to regroup and break any cease-fire would be wrong, and the next time, its attacks could be worse.
A two-state solution must be set in place when Hamas is defeated. Why are these members of Chicago’s City Council not calling for Hamas to surrender? They should do the job they were elected to perform — and that’s handle the problems in the city of Chicago. Where there are many!
— Jean Brennan, Chicago
I commend the Dec. 20 editorial for correctly pointing out that the Chicago City Council should concern itself with matters that it can actually control rather than matters concerning which it can only express its opinion. In this case, that means addressing the influx of immigrants that the council’s self-proclaimed “sanctuary city” policies have for years invited rather than calling for a cease-fire in Gaza, where it has zero jurisdiction.
I criticize the Tribune Editorial Board, however, for its claim that “the problem here is flowing from the state of Texas” and its characterization of Texas Gov. Greg Abbott’s busing of some immigrants as “inhumane” and “without notice.”
Chicago Tribune Opinion
Manifestly, the “problem” here flows from the District of Columbia, in particular President Joe Biden’s administration’s invitation to cross our southern border, aided and abetted by the city of Chicago’s “sanctuary city” policies. (Those policies in the past have included flatly refusing to cooperate with immigration authorities even in deporting people found by our court system to have no legal basis for staying in the U.S. after exhausting all appeals.)
The editorial board’s claim that busing migrants whose claims have yet to be filed, much less adjudicated, is “inhumane” and “without notice,” also does not withstand scrutiny. The buses are heated, all have arrived safely and Chicago has been on notice that they are on their way. Moreover, Illinois’s continuing population loss would be even more dire absent such immigration.
Surely, the sanctuary state of Illinois and city of Chicago can find meaningful ways to incorporate new immigrants into the Chicago workforce and help them on their way to becoming productive first- and second-generation citizens.
If not, then perhaps the mayor and the governor can have a long talk with Biden when he’s in town for the Democratic National Convention.
— David Applegate, Huntley
Join the conversation in our Letters to the Editor Facebook group.
Submit a letter, of no more than 400 words, to the editor here or email letters@chicagotribune.com.