Alarm over shelter conditions as 5-year-old migrant dies in Chicago
Newsy
The death of a 5-year-old boy has renewed concerns over how Chicago is handling the arrival of thousands of migrants from the U.S.-Mexico border.
In front of a migrant shelter in a former warehouse in Chicago's Pilsen neighborhood, hundreds gathered on Wednesday evening to honor the life of 5-year-old Jean Carlos Martinez Rivero and to show support to his family.
It's inside that shelter, one of the city's largest, that the young migrant fell ill on Sunday and was pronounced dead soon after at a nearby hospital.
"This was a preventable death. This was also a predictable death," said social worker and community organizer Britt Hodgdon after the vigil.
For migrant advocates, Rivero's death — and the recent hospitalization of six more migrants from the same building — illustrates the dangerous conditions inside the city's 27 shelters, which are overflowing with demand.
"Unfortunately, we treat animals in this country better than we do humans," said Erika Villegas, a volunteer who has been helping migrants in Chicago for months.
