Homeless Chicagoans also living at police stations alongside migrants
The floor of the police station in Woodlawn was turning into a patchwork of mattresses and quilts on a recent evening as the migrants who were staying there got ready for another night in the half-lit lobby.
As one man blew up an air mattress, 2-year-old Jacobie Wilson wriggled out of his stroller and ran toward it with a flying leap. The man smiled at the toddler and offered his hands as he jumped, but Jacobie’s mother, Jessica Wilson, 28, hurried to scoop him up. She nodded at the man an apology and thanks. Though everyone who stayed at District 3 knew of them both, the Joliet native doesn’t speak Spanish and keeps to herself.
While many of the migrants at the station come from Venezuela, the Wilsons had only come from a few miles away. The language barrier was just one more thing that separated her and her son from the migrants they slept alongside at the police station.
It is unclear how many homeless U.S. citizens like the Wilsons are staying among the nearly 2,800 migrants awaiting shelter placement in
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