Hundreds gathered outside a migrant shelter on the Lower West Side Wednesday night, three days after a 5-year-old migrant staying there died in a medical emergency that has confused and frustrated migrants, volunteers and health care advocates.
For advocates, the death of Jean Carlos Martinez Rivero is a symbol of the effects of repeated chaos between governments struggling to house and care for record numbers of migrants crossing the U.S. southern border.
“When there are folks who are sending (migrants) from the border, coming to us from Texas, and not really respecting human life, someone’s going to get hurt,” said John Zayas, senior pastor at Grace and Peace Church in Austin, who was part of an initiative where faith-based and philanthropic groups opened their doors to hundreds of migrants staying in police stations in November.
The scene outside the shelter was busy prior to the vigil as organizers set up yellow flowers and roses and candles on the pavement in anticipation of the gathering.
“Arepa, arepa, arepa!” shouted migrants from the sidewalk, as they passed out the traditional Venezuelan corn pancake from styrofoam coolers. Cars honked as they drove by, and volunteers passed out coats from their trunks to dozens of migrants staying in the shelter.
At around 4:30 p.m., an ambulance pulled up to the shelter — one of at least 10 that have arrived at the crowded warehouse since Jean Carlos died Sunday.
His parents reported their son had been sick for a couple of days prior to his death, according to police.
Around 3 p.m. Sunday, staff at the shelter at 2241 S. Halsted St. began performing chest compressions on Jean Carlos and called for an ambulance after his lips turned purple and his eyes rolled into the back of his head, according to a police report.
The boy was pronounced dead at Comer Children’s Hospital and the cause of death is under investigation, authorities said.
Doctors treating migrants have reported asylum-seekers exhibiting strep throat, ear infections, stomach flu, rashes and chronic conditions that weren’t treated in their country of origin.
The Chicago Department of Public Health has seen an increase in chickenpox cases, especially in the last four weeks. Most cases have been in people newly arrived from the U.S. southern border living in shelters.
Britt Hodgdon, a social worker trained as a trauma therapist, spoke out at the vigil.
”This was a preventable death. This was also a predictable death,” she said, imploring city shelter staff to take measures to improve conditions inside.
The Martinez Rivero family arrived in Chicago on Nov. 30, according to the city. The boy’s parents were devastated, Matt DeMateo, executive director and pastor at New Life Centers who is consoling the family told the Tribune Tuesday.
Tim Noonan, a volunteer who had been helping migrants staying at the Morgan Park District (22nd) police station believed the ambulance that picked up the child should have been called sooner. He is concerned about the health care provided at city-run shelters.
“It makes you really angry,” he said. “I mean you wouldn’t treat a dog like this.”
Noonan said Wednesday night’s vigil was for all Venezuelan children and the heartache they went through to get to the United States. Volunteer groups want to put together a bill of rights for migrants calling for food, medical attention, mental health support, among other basic necessities, Noonan said.
Noonan went to the vigil to make sure migrants get the “dignity they deserve.”
Just a few weeks ago, thousands of migrants were sleeping on the ground and outside police stations in tents in subfreezing temperatures. The city has scrambled to clear them out before winter descended on the encampments.
Over 26,100 migrants have come to the city over the past 15 months, and numbers haven’t ceased. A chartered plane from Texas arrived at O’Hare International Airport Tuesday night carrying over 120 migrants, according to Andrew Mahaleris, a spokesperson for Texas Republican Gov. Greg Abbott. Five more buses were expected Wednesday.
As of Monday, there were over 14,000 migrants staying in 27 buildings across the city. Volunteers helping migrants at stations question whether the rush for shelter has led to crammed, unsanitary conditions in shelters.
On Tuesday, there were over 2,400 migrants staying at the shelter where Jean Carlos died.
Amy Blair, a family physician and associate professor at Loyola University Medical Center echoed other volunteer sentiments that migrants were getting better medical care at police stations than they are at city-run shelters.
“It takes a lot of staff to be able to provide acute care for 2,300 people in one place, and across the shelters there’s even more,” she said.
Blair has been providing medical services to migrants at Catherine-St. Lucy-St. Giles Parish in Oak Park. Migrant families take public transportation from shelters to receive care.
She said that as a medical provider, it is frightening for her to send people back to a system that lacks adequate health workers. What worries her most, she said, is how the 5-year-old’s death will affect other migrants.
“I think that the fear of what happened at (Halsted) is likely to have reached other shelters,” she said.
Gabriela Ojeda, 21, a Venezuelan woman standing near the crowd paying their respects to a tiny photo of Jean Carlos lit by candles, said she has been at the shelter on Halsted Street for two months. She said everyone is sick inside.
”Because there’s no space, the kids are sleeping so close together. They catch illnesses from each other,” she said.
She looked at her 11-month-old son wrapped in a blanket in her husband’s arms.
”It was him,” she said. “Who’s to say it couldn’t be my child?”
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