Lake Michigan brings comfort to migrant families from Venezuela

Juan Carlos Marin Matos holds his son, Ethan, at Montrose Beach. An avid swimmer, he’s grateful for the chance at a fresh start on the banks of Lake Michigan. (Anthony Vazquez/Sun-Times)

Growing up by Venezuela’s biggest lake, Juan Carlos Marin Matos begged his parents to enroll him in swimming lessons, the first step in a lifelong passion for open-water competition.

Shortly after arriving in Chicago with his family this summer — bused from Texas as part of that state’s expulsion of asylum-seekers — Marin Matos took his first swim in Lake Michigan.