A five-year-old boy died along with 2,300 immigrants at an overcrowded shelter in Chicago after staff allegedly refused to call an ambulance.
Jean Carlos Martinez, 5, was pronounced dead on arrival at the hospital Sunday after being ill for days at the Pilsen shelter south of downtown Chicago.
Four other children and a teenager were later taken to hospital from the same shelter with fever and other ailments.
Chicago is struggling to care for the 26,000 immigrants who were bused from Texas and other border states after crossing the border in the past year.
Jean Carlos Martinez, 5, was pronounced dead on arrival at the hospital Sunday after being ill for days at the Pilsen shelter south of downtown Chicago
The city has spent $138 million and is counting on the crisis to worsen as temperatures drop as winter progresses.
Jean was ill with fever and pain in his left leg for two or three days before he died and began vomiting on Sunday morning.
His lips turned blue. His family claimed to police that staff said it was 'probably due to the cold' and refused to call an ambulance.
While his father begged for an ambulance, Jean suffered a seizure and shelter staff gave him CPR, according to a police report seen by police. Chicago Tribune.
He was rushed to Comer Children's Hospital around 3 p.m. and pronounced dead at 3:47 p.m. His family were not allowed to ride with him and were instead knocked down and driven into a police car.
Jean was bleeding from his mouth and nose with a fever of 100F and suffered from diarrhea for days before his death.
The Pilsen shelter was the subject of numerous complaints about poor sanitation and overcrowding, putting the lives of immigrants inside at risk.
Video from inside showed children coughing and crying, some so cold they were wearing snow jackets, and water leaking from the ceiling onto the beds below.
Video from a passerby showed trash piled up outside the shelter. The converted factory was the subject of numerous complaints about unsanitary conditions
The shelter is run by Favorite Healthcare Staffing, a Kansas-based contractor, to whom the city has paid $100 million since September 2022 to operate migrant shelters.
Jean's death is under investigation and an autopsy by the Cook County Medical Examiner on Monday was inconclusive, pending further investigation.
The Chicago Fire Department said a three-year-old boy was taken to the hospital vomiting, a seven-year-old girl with an ear infection, and a one-year-old, four-year-old and 18-year-old girls with other medical complaints.
A 47-year-old woman was also taken to hospital with chest pain on Tuesday morning.
Chicago and other North American cities are struggling to find housing for tens of thousands of asylum seekers, many of whom have been transported from Texas in the past year.
Earlier this month, hundreds of asylum seekers were still waiting to be placed at Chicago airports and police stations, some of them still camped on sidewalks outside District buildings.
Mayor Brandon Johnson said the blame for Jean's death lay squarely with southern governors for ferrying thousands of immigrants to the “sanctuary city.”
'They just drop people off everywhere. Do you understand how messed up and how bad that is… and then you want to hold us responsible for something that happens at the border? Is it nauseating?' he said.
Video footage from inside the Pilsen shelter (pictured) shows children coughing and crying, some so cold they were wearing snow jackets, and water leaking from the ceiling onto the beds below
O'Hare International Airport housed hundreds of migrants in a restricted area as the crisis gained traction this summer
Residents protested in Brighton Park against the proposed migrant camp to accommodate the influx of migrants
Mayor Johnson insisted the asylum seekers arrived in Chicago unwell due to the conditions in which they were held at the border before being loaded onto buses.
'Do you hear me? They call in sick. The problem isn't just how we respond in the city of Chicago, it's the fact that we have a governor – a governor, an elected official in the state of Texas – who is putting families on buses without shoes, cold, wet, tired, hungry, scared, traumatized,” he said.
The mayor's office said the city had resettled or reunited more than 10,000 migrants and housed 13,992 in 27 temporary shelters, and doubled down on blaming southern governors.
“Many new arrivals survive brutal and dangerous journeys to border states and are shipped quickly and inhumanely with little to no triage,” the report said.
'In border states, new arrivals spend the night outside without a shower, running water or food.
'Border states are not taking appropriate measures to ensure the safety of the people they load onto buses.
“This carelessness directly contributed to the death of a three-year-old girl in September this year and could continue to have devastating consequences.”
The mayor's office said an investigation was underway and any changes to staff safety protocols would be implemented based on the findings.
Mayor Brandon Johnson said the blame for Jean's death lay squarely with southern governors for bringing in thousands of immigrants.
The city says it is selling tickets and seizing buses that try to drop off migrants outside designated zones.
“As temperatures continue to drop, the city is increasing penalties to discourage bus operators from ignoring these protocols,” the city said.
“The inhumane treatment further jeopardizes the safety and security of asylum seekers, and places additional strain on city agencies, volunteers and mutual aid partners charged with easing the already difficult transition.”
Although the city reports that police stations have been largely cleared, huge shelters are not necessarily a safe alternative, said Annie Gomberg, a volunteer at the city's police department who has been working with Chicago's newcomers since April.
Gomberg said people staying at the Pilsen shelter reported mold visible inside, and the lack of insulation made the repurposed warehouse very cold.
Last week, Mayor Johnson ordered city lawmakers to quash a bid to put the controversial Welcoming City Ordinance to a referendum during Chicago's March primary.
Sanctuary city status means city officials are prohibited from asking questions about a person's immigration status or disclosing it to federal authorities.
Police in the city may not arrest anyone solely because they are an illegal immigrant, and the city will not cooperate with an investigation by immigration authorities unless ordered to do so by a court.
More than 560 cities, states and provinces in the US have declared themselves sanctuary cities, with Chicago adopting the status in 1985.
But sanctuary cities have been a favorite target of governors on the southern border, who have ferried thousands of migrants north as the migration crisis has gathered steam.
Johnson was one of five Democratic mayors who headed to D.C. last month to plead with the Biden administration for as much as $5 billion in federal funds to address the issue.
“Our cities need additional resources far greater than the proposed amount to properly care for the asylum seekers entering our communities,” they wrote.
“Depending on municipal budgets is not sustainable and has forced us to cut back on essential city services.”
Johnson accused his opponents of “meanness” and claimed a public vote on sanctuary status would do nothing to tackle migrant pressure.
“This is a crisis, and like I said, it's not going to go away because people are upset,” he told reporters on Wednesday.
“Unfortunately, you have people who have used this as a way to carry out the vileness of it.
“That kind of meanness has created the kind of conflict we're experiencing now.”
