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June 2, 2023

Chicago Will Use $50 Million in City Surplus Funds to Assist Asylum Seekers Sent from Texas
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The Chicago City Council voted Wednesday to allocate more than $50
million from a budget surplus to provide emergency humanitarian aid and
housing to the thousands of asylum seekers who have been sent to Chicago
since last August by Texas Republican Governor Greg Abbott. This is
Chicago Alderperson Andre Vasquez.

Andre Vasquez: "So, we've got around 10,000 asylum seekers coming from
South and Central America. Close to a thousand of them are currently
living in our police stations, right? We're talking sleeping on mats on
the floor, sometimes on the floor directly. And we're talking women,
children, like whole families. So, the city currently is looking to see
how it's going to tackle it, at a time where we don't have the funding
and resources from the state and federal government to really adequately
address it."



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