Migrants bused from Texas face uncertain futures after long journey: ‘I was scared on the way, but I couldn’t wait to get to Chicago’

After nearly two weeks in a detention center in a border town in Texas, Naydelin Guerrel, 19, arrived in Chicago Wednesday night in one of the two buses with dozens of other migrants from Latin America who are seeking asylum.

When her bus got to Union Station, she got off and immediately looked to hail a taxi, she said. Unlike most of the migrants who were transported from Texas, Guerrel had an address where she would find refuge for the night: a church in Humboldt Park that has been converted into a makeshift shelter.

“I’m grateful to be here. I’m grateful for those that have stepped up to help us,” Guerrel said in Spanish as she stood next to a church pew and an air mattress on the ground.

Though news broke that the first buses of migrants from Texas arrived to Chicago on Wednesday night, local advocates say several migrants who had previously been bused to Washington or New York have also been arriving in the Chicago area looking for help over the last two months, local advocates said.

Given the need for resources for the newly arrived migrants, mostly Venezuelans, Jacobita Cortes decided to turn the small house of worship on Division Avenue, Adalberto Memorial United Methodist Church, into a temporary shelter that has housed more than 30 migrants, including women and children, since early June, she said.

“Individual asylum-seekers have been arriving in Illinois for weeks, and we know that people will continue to come to Chicago, the suburbs and downstate after today, whether on charter buses or their own,” said Brandon Lee, the director of Communications for Illinois Coalition for Immigrant and Refugee Rights. “This is a long-term need for communities across the state, and we’re going to continue advocating for comprehensive and sustainable solutions, including access to services and benefits.”

In a news conference, Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot said officials “have certainly heard of small numbers (of arriving migrants), and they have been helped and assisted” but that this was the first time it was a large group. She also noted that people come to Chicago daily from across the world.

On Thursday, less than a full day after arriving in Chicago, Guerrel had already taken a walk around the neighborhood and even picked up groceries from a local pantry.

“It’s pretty here,” she said, smiling at her boyfriend standing next to her. The two reunited at the makeshift shelter after being separated on Aug. 12 when they crossed the border into Texas from the Mexican town of Piedras Negras nearly two months after leaving Panama.

Her boyfriend, Nelson Serrano, 29, from Venezuela, had migrated to Panama from Venezuela three years ago before making his way north. “It just wasn’t enough to help my family,” he said in Spanish as he wiped tears rolling down his cheeks. “I’m hopeful that it’ll all be worth it.”

He made his way to Chicago two weeks ago when he was released from immigration custody in Del Rio, Texas, he said. A fellow Venezuelan migrant who arrived in the Windy City before him had told him that he could find shelter and guidance at the church in Chicago. Having no one else to rely on in the country, he made his way and patiently waited for his partner, he said.

Though it was difficult to leave his elderly parents and eight siblings in his native town, he is glad that the two of them have made it to safety, Serrano said. For a while, he thought that Guerrel would never make it to Chicago.

“The journey wasn’t easy,” a shy Guerrel said. The two left Panama because — like most migrants — they want to find a job that can help them sustain their families through extreme poverty and violence, she said.

“I was scared on the way, but I couldn’t wait to get to Chicago,” she said. “But other people on the bus with me had nowhere to go and no one to reunite with.”

There were mothers, single women and young children, among the many men, Guerrel recalled. Most were hungry and tired, she said.

When the buses arrived at Union Station on Wednesday night, some of the passengers reunited with family or contacts they had in the city. But the majority stood outside the station as CTA buses arrived to pick them up to take them to the Salvation Army Freedom Center, an initial stop as city government officials — in collaboration with local organization and community leaders — gather more resources to provide the migrants with more permanent housing, health care and legal help to file their case for asylum.

As asylum-seekers, the migrants were paroled into the United States, but most may still need to file for asylum, said Katherine Greenslade, an attorney and the director of the Immigrant Justice Legal Clinic at the Resurrection Project. Until they file, the migrants are considered undocumented. The migrants must apply within one year of arriving to the United States. And though they can file their case on their own, most need legal representation, often costly and complicated.

“We are here to work, that’s all we want,” said Yeison Alejandro Silva, 23, who arrived with Guerrel. He left his wife and two young daughters in Venezuela because he couldn’t afford to buy diapers with the salary he had.

Cortes said that the migrants she has housed are between 20 and 30 years old.

“Like any immigrant, they come here with hopes and dreams, how can I close my door?” she said.

The pastor has been relying on donations and help from other church members to ensure that those who arrive at the church can then find a safe and permanent place to live. Many migrants, including Serrano, have found jobs that pay cash since they don’t have a work permit.

Cortes said she and her guests welcome any donations of personal hygiene product, air beds, monetary aid or permanent places to stay.

Aside from providing them with a place to sleep and shower, Cortes has also helped them to get a CityKey identification, which is a government-issued ID.

“But we need a lot of help and much more support,” Cortes said as she acknowledged that she may not be able to house many more immigrants due to a lack of resources. “Now that the city is aware that they are coming in large numbers, I hope that a truly comprehensive network of support can be established for them,” she said.

Immigration advocates say that they expect many more migrants to arrive in the city of Chicago in the next weeks as part of the efforts from Abbot.

The vice president of Immigrant Justice at The Resurrection Project (TRP), Erendira Rendon said that local advocates knew that migrants would be arriving in Chicago, but it was unclear when.

“I had never seen something like this before,” she said. “It’s a tactic, the Texas government is not communication, and its attempt to make this a chaotic process.”

Rendon said that her team and other local organizations are working with the city to assist the migrants in need. This includes health screenings, and logistics to help those who may need to travel to another state to reunite with family or people they know, and to help others to find a more permanent place to live.

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But migrants are not required to stay in the shelters that the city has designated and if they chose to go elsewhere, they can, Rendon said.

Meanwhile, at the church, Cortes said that she will continue to embrace the migrants the way she was embraced when she arrived in this country until she can’t anymore.

Texas Gov. Greg Abbott, in protest of President Joe Biden’s immigration policies, began sending busloads of migrants to Washington, D.C., in April and later to New York City. Abbott has said many of his border towns are inundated with newly arriving migrants, some of whom have traveled through Mexico from other parts of Central or South America.

Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot, who blasted Abbott’s actions as “racist” and xenophobic, indicated the city received little information from Texas authorities before two busloads of about 75 migrants arrived Wednesday night.

The Associated Press reported last month that nearly 8,000 migrants have been sent on state-sponsored buses to Washington and New York from Texas or Arizona, where another Republican governor whose state borders Mexico, Doug Ducey, followed Abbott’s lead.

Both New York and Washington have struggled to keep up with the increased need for humanitarian assistance for the migrants and have sought additional aid from the federal government.

Tribune reporter Gregory Pratt and The Associated Press contributed.