How to help migrants coming to Chicago

Aber Abueid (right), a community organizer with the Inner-City Muslim Action Network who is helping feed migrants at police stations in Chicago, speaks to Erika Villegas, who has also been providing food and supplies, outside the 8th District police station in the Chicago Lawn neighborhood, Friday, May 5, 2023. The 8th District is one of the police stations in Chicago where asylum seekers have been temporarily sleeping while they wait for shelter. | Pat Nabong/Sun-Times (Pat Nabong/Sun-Times)

Newly arrived immigrants in Chicago are in need of basic necessities, the city says. Here is a list of recommended actions from organizations, community groups and legislators in Chicago offering aid: 

• Purchase items off Instituto del Progreso Latino’s Amazon wishlist. 
• Donate to Park Community Church and Refugee Community Connection’s free store.
• Donate new and gently used items at 40th Ward Ald. Andre Vasquez’s office. Find the list of requested items and a volunteer sign-up form here.
• Donate to Organized Communities Against Deportation’s fundraising campaign, which will donate $300 cash contributions to families and individuals in need.
• Donate to Albany Park Mutual Aid’s Support Asylum Seekers Fund, which will provide care kits to migrants in the 17th police district.
• Donate items to Erie Neighborhood House, a social services nonprofit seeking donations of clothing and hygienic products.