Published TUESDAY, February 6, 2024: 'Sanctuary City HERO' Pictures by ZUMA Press represented Chicago Tribune's photographer Armando L. Sanchez and story by staff writer Nell Salzman: A Chicago man decided to make sheltering immigrants his life mission. Chris Amatore is welcoming asylum seekers into his building in the Windy City. There are close to 14,000 migrants in 28 shelters around the city, and Chicago is on track to tap out the $150 million dedicated to migrant response. Starting in March, evictions loom for migrants who have been staying at city-run shelters for longer than 60 days. Chicago built by immigrants, is a city with more nationalities than almost anywhere on Earth. The 'Windy City' has been a Sanctuary City for 38 years under 5 very different Mayors. A hero has stepped up for asylum seekers: CHRIS AMATORE. Welcome to 'Sanctuary City HERO'
© zReportage.com Issue #925 Story of the Week: Published TUESDAY, February 6, 2024: 'Sanctuary City HERO' Pictures by ZUMA Press represented Chicago Tribune's photographer Armando L. Sanchez and story by staff writer Nell Salzman: A Chicago man decided to make sheltering immigrants his life mission. Chris Amatore is welcoming asylum seekers into his building in the Windy City. There are close to 14,000 migrants in 28 shelters around the city, and Chicago is on track to tap out the $150 million dedicated to migrant response. Starting in March, evictions loom for migrants who have been staying at city-run shelters for longer than 60 days. Chicago built by immigrants, is a city with more nationalities than almost anywhere on Earth. The 'Windy City' has been a Sanctuary City for 38 years under 5 very different Mayors. A hero has stepped up for asylum seekers: CHRIS AMATORE. Welcome to 'Sanctuary City HERO'

People stand outside a migrant shelter near the 2300 block of South Halsted Street in Chicago. There are close to 14,000 migrants in 28 shelters around the city, and Chicago is on track to tap out the $150 million dedicated to migrant response in April.
© Armando L. Sanchez/Chicago Tribune via ZUMA Press Wire

ROBINSON COVIS, 25, from left, ABEL GONZALEZ, 27, and DANIEL ANTONIO RUIZ, 21, all from Venezuela, watch property manager Chris Amatore install a smoke detector inside a home shared by several migrant families in Chicago.
© Armando L. Sanchez/Chicago Tribune via ZUMA Press Wire

JEREMY HERNANDEZ, 10, from left, FRANCISCO HERNANDEZ, 31, JOSELIN MENDOZA, 29, YESMARY MENDOZA, 9, MARIA MALPICA, 28, and IREANYERLIN HERNANDEZ, 8, walk to a bus stop while commuting to school in Roseland. Beyond neighborhood tensions, moving people out of shelters poses serious challenges for a city that is already struggling to house thousands.
© Armando L. Sanchez/Chicago Tribune via ZUMA Press Wire

MARIA MALPICA, 28, of Venezuela, looks inside the refrigerator in the home she shares with other migrant families in Chicago. Chris Amatore, a property management company owner in West Pullman, said he was compelled to help house migrants after he read about their squalid living conditions at the city's landing zone ahead of one of the worst cold snaps in Chicago in recent memory.
© Armando L. Sanchez/Chicago Tribune via ZUMA Press Wire

Venezuelan migrants, JOSELIN MENDOZA, 29, from left, IREANYERLIN HERNANDEZ, 8, YUSMARY COVIS, 1, and ROBINSON COVIS, 25, gather inside a home they share with other migrant families in Chicago.
© Armando L. Sanchez/Chicago Tribune via ZUMA Press Wire

DANIEL ANTONIO RUIZ, 21, from left, ABEL GONZALEZ, 27, property manager CHRIS AMATORE and ROBINSON COVIS, 25, gather upstairs while Amatore installs a smoke detector inside a home shared by several Venezuelan migrant families in the Roseland neighborhood of Chicago.
© Armando L. Sanchez/Chicago Tribune via ZUMA Press Wire

Before walking his children to school, FRANCISCO HERNANDEZ, 31, of Venezuela, stands in the basement where he lives in a home shared by several migrant families in the Roseland neighborhood of Chicago. The home is owned by property manager Chris Amatore who said he's housed over 400 migrants in apartments and houses across Chicago.
© Armando L. Sanchez/Chicago Tribune via ZUMA Press Wire

A group of migrants stand outside the city's migrant landing zone on a chilly January day. The city plans to kick out migrants who have been staying at city-run shelters for longer than 60 days starting in March, saying the shelter system was designed as a ''temporary' solution for people to live.
© Armando L. Sanchez/Chicago Tribune via ZUMA Press Wire

RAYNI CUADRADO, left, of Venezuela, and pastor MARKEL ANDERSON remove broken light panels from a room at New Promise Land Missionary Baptist Church in Chicago's North Lawndale neighborhood after it was broken into.
© Armando L. Sanchez/Chicago Tribune via ZUMA Press Wire

A migrant man drinks canned water near CTA buses parked at the city's migrant 'landing zone', while ANGELO TRAVIEZO, second from right, of Venezuela, talks with other migrants. At least eight CTA buses are being used at the site as temporary shelters for recently arrived migrants.
© Armando L. Sanchez/Chicago Tribune via ZUMA Press Wire

MATTHEW ANDERSON, 19, right, watches RAYNI CUADRADO, 29, of Venezuela, change a drill bit, while clearing debris from a broken doorway at New Promise Land Missionary Baptist Church in Chicago's North Lawndale neighborhood after it was broken into. Cuadrado, who had been going to Home Depot every day for a month seeking work, said it was his first substantial job after arriving in the U.S in November.
© Armando L. Sanchez/Chicago Tribune via ZUMA Press Wire

An ambulance transports a person from a migrant shelter near the 2300 block of South Halsted Street where 5-year-old Jean Carlos Martinez Rivero got sick and died over the weekend on Dec. 19, 2023.
© Armando L. Sanchez/Chicago Tribune via ZUMA Press Wire