A 5-year-old boy living in a temporary migrant shelter in Chicago died this weekend after being taken to a hospital following a medical emergency, the city's mayor said Monday.
The boy's death on Sunday revived community organizers' complaints about conditions in shelters and questions about how Chicago is responding to an influx of people unaccustomed to the city's cold winters and with few local contacts.
Chicago and other northern U.S. cities are struggling to find housing for tens of thousands of asylum seekers transported from Texas since the start of the year as months of cold weather loom. 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.
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 about 2,300 people were staying at the shelter where the boy lived.
“The shelters are completely closed to outside access. They are reportedly doing this to protect the residents inside,” Gomberg said. But she said she suspects part of the reason for the tight security is because the public can't see how the shelters are run.
“The people living inside come to us and say, 'Please give us blankets, give us clothes for our children, we need bottles, we need diapers,'” she said.
Jean Carlos Martinez, 5, was living at a shelter in Chicago's Pilsen neighborhood when he suffered a medical emergency and died shortly after arriving at Comer Children's Hospital on Sunday afternoon, according to an emailed statement from Mayor Brandon Johnson.
“City officials are providing support to the family and are still gathering information about this tragedy,” Johnson said. “My heart and prayers go out to the Martinez family.”
City officials did not immediately respond to a request for comment on whether conditions at the shelter played a role in the child's death.
“We will overcome this humanitarian crisis. We will do it together and it will ultimately lead to a better, stronger and safer Chicago,” Johnson said last month at an event announcing that the city would partner with churches to temporarily house hundreds of people awaiting placement.
Martinez was “feeling unwell” when paramedics transported him to a hospital, where he was later pronounced dead, Chicago police said, adding that detectives are investigating the incident.
Gomberg sent The Associated Press videos taken by shelter residents showing children coughing and crying at the crowded Pilsen shelter where Martinez was staying. One video showed water leaking from the ceiling onto the beds below.
Gomberg said people who stayed there reported that mold is visible in the shelter, and the lack of insulation makes the repurposed warehouse very cold. One of the photos shows a toddler wearing a snow suit and winter hat indoors.
“If you know Chicago at all, this is really the moment where the rubber hits the road,” she said. “We could very easily get crippling snowstorms. We could very easily get subzero temperatures.”
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Savage is a staff member of the Associated Press/Report for America Statehouse News Initiative. Report for America is a nonprofit national service program that places journalists in local newsrooms to report on undercovered issues.
