Unfinished Business
One week ago, my husband and I landed at Chicago O'Hare. While we were on the tarmac waiting for a gate, our American Airlines flight left us (and at least 8 other passengers bound for Des Moines). It was the last flight of the day.
After standing in a long line at the service desk to receive hotel and meal vouchers, we trudged past closed food venues, arriving at the shuttle transport area. There we waited in the rain, along with other stranded passengers. Our hotel supposedly was only 10 minutes away, but first one shuttle, and then later a second one, rapidly filled up.
While we were waiting for the third shuttle, I turned around, and for the first time that night, I saw people who were in a far worst situation than us.
Behind us was a building with floor to ceiling windows. Looking into the lighted interior, I saw adults and children bedded down for the night, head to toe, on cardboard boxes on the floor.
Someone in our group said that they likely were other stranded passengers.
But I remembered reading about Venezuelan asylum seekers being bussed and flown to Chicago from Texas, and that a large number were housed at O'Hare.
Finally, after about an hour, one member of our group waded out into traffic, waving down the next arriving shuttle, and we climbed on board. Within a few hours, we were back at the airport, boarding our morning flight. Our checked luggage from the previous flight even arrived with us in Des Moines. But, what about the Venezuelans sleeping on the floor at O'Hare, just across the street from the Chicago O-'Hare Hilton? Are they still there? And for how long?
Chicago Struggles to Cope
An unprecedented number of Venezuelan migrants have arrived in Chicago this month, double September's rate. More than 2,300 have been housed at police stations, camping tents, the Inn of Chicago, and yes, as many as 828 at O'Hare. Some were bussed by Gov. Abbott of Texas, but others may have come with encouragement from family members or charities. Overwhelmed by the influx in Texas, Catholic Charities of San Antonio has used funds from FEMA's Emergency & Shelter program to send them here.
The Governor of Illinois has designated $328 million to address the needs of the 18,500 who have arrived since August 2022. With winter closing in, Chicago has signed a $29 million contract to provide shelter in winterized tents. The Federal government has been implored for aid. Chicago is sending a delegation to the border soon.
Massachusetts Bursting at the Seams
Just the day before landing at O'Hare, we had taken a ferry to Martha's Vineyard. There was no trace of any migrants during our short visit. But one year ago, two planes each loaded with 50 migrants from San Antonio had landed there with no advance warning, compliments of Gov. Ron Santis of Florida and Florida taxpayers, who paid the $600,000 tab They were housed at a military base at Buzzards Bay on Cape Cod. All but four migrants from this 2,000-mile trip moved to the Massachusetts mainland.
On the day after returning to Iowa, I saw a new 60 Minutes report highlighting an 8-month investigation into this shabby stunt. DeSantis had allocated $12 million under a "Migrant Relocation Plan" for transport of illegal immigrants. But these migrants had been in Texas legally, waiting on a request for asylum. They were offered $10 McDonald's gift cards if they'd sign a form; turns out it was a consent to transport. (No mention of Martha's Vineyard.) Sheriff Javier Salazar from Bexar County, Texas, was interviewed about his recommendation of felony and misdemeanor criminal charges. If you saw 60 Minutes, you know that if it's determined these migrants were victims of a crime, they may quality for a U-Visa, allowing them to stay here for up to four years.
Martha’s Vineyard
Two days after our return home from Massachusetts, Governor Maura Healey announced that the state no longer will guarantee shelter placements for new migrant arrivals, beginning in November. Most of the 7,500 migrants in 90 communities across Massachusetts are from Haiti. "This level of demand is not sustainable," she stated at a news conference in Boston.
Massachusetts is one of the only states with a right-to-shelter law available to pregnant women and families with children who meet income guidelines and other criteria. But state legislation has been proposed to limit this right to U.S. citizens. Even a welcoming, liberal state like Massachusetts appears to be reaching its limits.
Most of these new migrants, from Venezuela, Guatemala, El Salvador, and Haiti, are anxious to work. Healey is initiating new job training while they're in shelters, waiting to obtain work permits. But Federal assistance is needed to accelerate the processing of permits. In September, the Biden administration announced temporary legal status for Venezuelans who arrived here as of July 3, expediting their path to work authorization.
Three other recent Federal actions include:
· A White House proposal for about $14 billion in border funding within Biden's Ukraine/Israel request; it includes hiring new asylum officers and processors, immigration judges, funds for holding facilities, and help for state and local governments to provide shelter and services. (New York City is looking at spending more than $5 billion by the end of its budget year.)
· Earlier this week, the U.S. resumed deportation flights to Venezuela, after a four-year pause. (Some oil and gas sanctions against Venezuela will be lifted)
· The U.S. has waived 26 federal laws in south Texas to allow 20 miles of border wall to be built.
It isn't enough. At the current rate of immigrants, nothing will be enough.
Failure of Leadership
I don't pretend to be an authority on immigration. But I've covered reform efforts during the past couple of decades. In 2013, the Senate passed a bipartisan immigration reform bill, and the House passed a few bills out of committee. Then reforms stalled out.
In 2014, as much as 80% of the U.S. dairy workforce was Hispanic. I traveled to Wisconsin and New York dairy farms to meet with farmers, who praised this hardworking and reliable workforce. In a May 2014 issue of Successful Farming, I wrote Heavy Lifting: Achieving Immigration Reform is a Tough Job Despite Strong Support from Agriculture.
The U.S. has an acute labor shortage, especially in states like Iowa. Even so, there are limits to how many migrants the U.S. can accept and afford to provide the required social services. Today's asylum-seeking migrants are even more challenging, since they're less likely to be able to return to their home countries, fearing for their lives, or economic survival. Their governments are unfriendly, and outright hostile, to the U.S. Still, the failure of Congress to act over the past decade has been colossal. This humanitarian crisis could be an inflection point in U.S. immigration policy. Yet today the House can't even agree on a speaker.
Immigration may become President Biden's Achilles Heel, if this crisis remains on full display in Chicago next summer during the Democratic National Convention.
Invisible, Yet in Plain Sight
Texas, the epicenter, as well as Massachusetts and New York are a long way from Iowa. But this hugely complex stalemate impacts us in smaller, more subtle ways that allow us to put a human face on the issue.
Over a year ago, a new restaurant opened in nearby Ogden, population 2,000. Orders at Pupuseria Mary's were served at the window of a school bus. When our friends from New York City and Los Angeles visited last fall, we discovered the local (and only restaurant) in town was closed for the afternoon. We enjoyed a delicious El Salvadoran lunch of chicken and pork tacos and pupusas at outdoor tables.
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I returned several times, until the restaurant closed for the winter. The only drive-through option in town, it also expanded the diversity of Ogden's cuisine. Toward spring, we heard rumors about the restaurant's high utility bills and the migrants' language difficulties. But it re-opened, with one previous worker, and two new ones, and a new name, La Barra. However, as suddenly as it opened, it closed before summer's end.
The school bus food truck was a small window into another world. But, despite our proximity to Perry, Iowa, home of many Hispanics, their struggles were remote. Their daily obstacles remained opaque, even to my family, who was blessed by the adoption of four beautiful nieces in 2008. None likely will ever know one-half of their heritage, due to their father's lack of legal immigration status.
On that rainy night in October, outside Terminal 1, I stifled my impulse to step next to the window to take a photo. It seemed an invasion of privacy, although the migrants surely had no illusions of privacy there. On that night, I saw them. They weren't serving food, cleaning hotel rooms, or living in the shadows. They simply were seeking enough sleep to survive yet another day. I saw them. And now I can't unsee them.
Another important reminder of the complex issues which cry out for a functioning and reasonable Congress. Thank you!
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