Sanctuary city migrants facing spring evictions live in ‘limbo’

(NewsNation) —  Spring traditionally represents a fresh start, but tens of thousands of migrants bused to sanctuary cities are now facing eviction from winter shelters, and the changing season instead means living in uncertainty.

Leonardo Pérez Suárez and his wife Wendy arrived in Chicago on New Year’s Day after a months-long journey from Cuba. But in a city where Mayor Brandon Johnson plans to evict newcomers from the city’s temporary housing centers beginning in mid-March, they’re living on borrowed time.

The couple’s baby was born less than a month ago at the American Islamic College — one of Chicago’s 28 city-run shelters. With less than three weeks before the city’s eviction deadline, the Pérez-Suárez family lives with more questions than answers.

“The problem is that we are here, and we are in limbo,” Pérez Suárez told NewsNation through a translator. “We’re going to be in limbo for who knows how long? 2026? Two years? In the meantime, we don’t have permission to do anything.”

Other migrants have already been kicked out in other cities like Denver and New York City.

New York City Mayor Eric Adams extended the eviction deadline until after the holidays. He said that giving families 60 days in shelters helps them to get acclimated to living in a new country and helps them find stability. It also helps the city, where more than 177,000 migrants have been bussed throughout the crisis.

In Denver, the city Department of Human Services reported that as of last week, only about 2,600 people remain in city shelters. The city has provided support for 40,000 migrants since Dec. 2022 and has spent more than $51 million on the migrant crisis, a department spokesperson told NewsNation.

Denver currently imposes a two-week limit on shelter stays for those without children and six weeks for families.

Chicago recently closed four shelters amid a slowdown in migrant arrivals. As of last week, nearly 12,400 migrants remained in the city’s shelters, the lowest total since November.

At the time the Pérez Suárez family arrived in Chicago, more than 15,000 people were being housed in shelters after being moved from neighborhood police precincts, city airports, and other temporary holding centers.

Asylum seekers feel ‘stuck’

After crossing the border, authorities attached an electronic monitoring device to Pérez-Suárez’s ankle in El Paso, telling him to report to a Chicago courtroom in early February. He was told at that time it would be removed and he would get authorization to work in the U.S. to aid in his search for a new life for him and his family.

Pérez Suárez said neither happened.

“We want to move out of that shelter, we want to go to a place that is home,” he said. “And for that home, we will do anything for work.”

His hearing with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement isn’t until 2026, Pérez-Suárez told NewsNation. In the meantime, the father of two — including the three-week-old infant — says, “We have nothing.”

Kavier Medero arrived in Chicago from Venezuela with his wife and three children after an eight-month journey from Caracas. He told NewsNation he came to the U.S. searching for a better future for his family.

But along the way, like many migrants — including the 36 who were on the bus with him from Texas that arrived in Chicago — Medero says cartel members threatened him with violence, and said they would take his children away if he did not pay them money.

He also said he was forced to pay money to keep traveling across Colombia, the jungles of Panama, Costa Rica, Nicaragua, Honduras, Guatemala and Mexico to keep moving toward the U.S. southern border.

He and his family had to escape from a refugee center in Panama to keep moving, and had to pay to have his papers returned to him. After an eight-month journey to the border, he and his family jumped a fence in Eagle Pass, Texas and surrendered to border authorities.

“I was awfully scared of coming, but (I knew) it could be a better life,” Medero told NewsNation through a translator. “That’s what made us come, no matter what.”

Medero’s ICE hearing is not scheduled for three years. He too will need to find a new place to stay when he’s evicted from the Chicago shelter in mid-March, and the process has been filled with uncertainty, he said.

“The problem at the shelter is that no one gives us the correct information,” he said. “We ask questions, but they don’t know the answers. They don’t know what to do with us. They don’t make any effort to help us. They don’t know (Spanish) and even if they know some, they are not willing to help.”

He added: “I feel stuck.”

Cities struggle to handle migrant capacity issues

More than 250,000 migrants have been sent to New York, Denver, and Chicago alone since Texas Gov. Greg Abbott ordered buses to take them from the southern border to urban centers.

In Chicago, Illinois Gov. J.B. Pritzker sent a stern letter to Abbott, admonishing him to cease sending migrants during an especially cold snap. Although arrivals have slowed, the number of migrants already in Chicago and how the city is using resources to cover costs linked to the crisis has created strife between city leaders.

“To (Johnson’s) credit, he has decided to be on the right side of history, but it does not go without some political risk,” Chicago Ald. Andre Vasquez told NewsNation. “When you’re in a situation where you’ve got what feels like a binary conversation about new arrivals getting support and everyone else not getting the same level of support, it’s hard to thread that needle.”

He added: “It’s unfortunate, but I think it’s being viewed as more as a capacity issue rather than a human issue.”

In Denver, more than $100 million has been spent on housing and care for migrants. Earlier this month, local officials told NewsNation they are struggling to keep up with the costs.

“We always try to educate people and explain to them that we have limited resources — very limited resources — and we’re going to try and help you,” Denver Human Services spokesperson Jon Ewing said on NewsNation Now. “(But) we also have to tell them, listen, this city is very expensive; it’s very unaffordable to live if you haven’t lived here before.”

In New York, Gov. Kathy Hochul unveiled a budget that included $2.4 billion to address the migrant crisis, including housing newcomers.

Trying to find stable housing for migrants

In New York City, Adams’ office said New York City is providing multiple personal consultation sessions to receive assistance in helping families find services and schooling for their children as the adults focus on finding jobs and new housing, NewsNation’s affiliate PIX11 reported.

“They deserve that stability,” said Dr. Ted Long with the mayor’s office said in January, according to PIX 11. “That stability can never be in a hotel room.”

Last year, the City of Chicago launched a pilot program designed to help migrants get expedited work authorizations. Part of the process involves migrants being fingerprinted and going through background checks.

The Biden administration previously granted Venezuelans who were in the country before July 31 temporary protected status that allows them to apply for work permits.

Despite federal help for some, the Chicago mayor’s office has not yet formalized a relocation plan for those still in city shelters. Johnson’s spokesman did not respond to NewsNation’s request for comment.

Meanwhile in Colorado, the state and City of Denver have partnered with local non-profits to help deal with the uncertainty.

ViVe Wellness, a Denver non-profit, has received state grants from the Colorado Office of New Americans to help provide migrants with a deposit and one month’s worth of rent assistance after their time in city shelters ends. For families who are not ready to move into permanent housing, ViVE Wellness has partnered with local hotels and other groups to provide transitional housing.

“You have to be so resilient to walk all the way and come here,” Yoli Casas, a Venezuela native and the executive director of ViVe Wellness told NewsNation. “When you come here, you kind of take a breather, but not too much because you’re given what? Six weeks in the shelter… and then you have to get your life together. And so, it’s that fear all the time.”