“Sometimes it can be an imposition on them. They’re going through what they’re going through,” she said. “This is not a zoo.”

Exemptions will be determined on a case-by-case basis for people with medical issues, who are in the process of leaving Chicago or securing housing, or who need to quarantine, according to officials. Pregnant women are exempt, and families with children can now receive three 30-day extensions.

That leaves around 2,000 people — mostly men — to be evicted in waves by the end of April. To be sure, the process is slow, and officials say it will likely have more visible effects in the coming weeks and months.

The city did not say how many people exited shelters Monday. Many migrants say their eviction date isn’t for several weeks.

Ald. Andre Vasquez, 40th, said Sunday he hasn’t been provided any information by city officials about how many migrants will be evicted out of which shelters in the next few days. As chair of the city’s Immigration Committee, he said having accurate census numbers is important to prevent homelessness and crime.

“What would you do? If you didn’t have a place to live or any means to survive?” he asked.

The 34 adults slated for eviction were at the Woodlawn shelter at the former Wadsworth Elementary School, the Gage Park fieldhouse on the Southwest Side and a building on North Elston Avenue in West Town.

To prepare for their removal, several volunteers set up a table outside the shelter in Woodlawn on Sunday. They set out sandwiches wrapped in plastic and bags of toiletries for migrants who had supposedly reached their time limit inside.

But no migrants had left by the 2 p.m. deadline city officials touted at the briefing last week. So volunteers packed up their tables.

About a dozen men stood outside and said they’d been told by staff that the shelter was closing soon.

...continued

©2024 Chicago Tribune. Visit chicagotribune.com. Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.