Since April 2022, nearly 35,000 migrants have arrived in the Chicago area from Texas — most sent by buses chartered by the Texas state government. Many of the new arrivals have crossed the southern border of the United States fleeing violence and poverty and find themselves starting a new life in Illinois after being dropped off on street corners or at closed transit stations.

Episcopalians have been helping to feed, clothe and house migrants since buses began arriving in Chicago in the summer of 2022. As the number of new arrivals grows, more congregations are stepping in to shelter asylum seekers and provide them with the clothes and food they need to withstand the cold Illinois winter.

Grace, Oak Park welcomed 22 young men from Venezuela in early November, when 162 asylum seekers crowded into the village’s police station after arriving by bus. Since then, the size of the group living in the parish hall has varied from 16 to 25 as some have left to join their families and others have arrived. Many have made their first appearance in immigration court and been acknowledged as asylum seekers but will not be permitted to work legally in the United States until a second court date can be set in the seriously overtaxed immigration court system.

“They have fled their home country because of such deep political corruption that they or their families have been subjected to long-term unemployment and the grinding poverty that results from that,” the Rev. Dr. John Rumple, the parish’s rector, recently told the congregation. The ministry has not always been easy, he acknowledges, but points to the parish’s Christmas attendance of more than 500 people as evidence of the community’s support. “They mentioned that they heard what we were doing and they encouraged us, and they even wanted to join us,” he said.

Several local organizations, including Beyond Hunger, Housing Forward, and the Village of Oak Park are also supporting the young men living at Grace. Beyond Hunger supplements food and meals donated by parish volunteers, and Housing Forward provides a case worker to help newly arrived migrants get IDs and work permits and apply for Medicaid. The parish has arranged English as a Second Language classes and a legal clinic, and Cook County Public Health has stepped in to provide vaccinations and initial medical exams and prescriptions as needed. Learn more.

As the need grows, St. Michael and All Angels Episcopal Church in Berwyn is working with the diocesan Sanctuary Task Force to prepare to host one or possibly more families of asylum seekers in the church’s rectory. The bilingual congregation runs the Angel Child Development Center, a licensed child-care program that provides a dual language curriculum, and the children of the newly arriving families will be enrolled in the program.

The Rev. Jaime Briceño, St. Michael’s rector, says that the congregation’s decision to begin this ministry was an extension of its faith. “Inspired by our Gospel values, we recognize this opportunity as an embodiment of the Christian call to be a beacon of hope and a sanctuary for the marginalized,” he said.

For its part, the Sanctuary Task Force is forming an accompaniment team to assist the newcomers at St. Michael and All Angels with integrating into the area, registering children for school, getting to doctors’ appointments and the supermarket, and encouraging new families as they become self-sufficient.

“The accompaniment team is the face of the United States as our newcomers begin the process of integrating into our society,” the Rev. Sandra Castillo, chair of the Sanctuary Task Force, said. Along with what the team provides, the Illinois Community for Displaced Immigrants (ICDI) assists with applications for food stamps and Medicaid and a small stipend.

Trinity, Highland Park began hosting migrant families, four or five at a time, early last year through its work with the Sanctuary Working Group, an ecumenical and interreligious organization now a program of Wellington United Church of Christ. “We had been doing this work already with Afghan migrants, so we were ready to take another group,” the Rev. Bryan Cones told WBEZ in a recent interview.

He sees long-term benefit to the influx of migrants that some in Chicago view more negatively. “We actually have the ability to turn what we keep calling a crisis into a problem that we can solve and eventually generate some good out of it,” he said. “New communities, safe people, new economies for Chicago. It’s a difficult time, but we could rise to the occasion instead of worrying that there isn’t going to be enough or giving into a certain kind of fear.”

Other congregations have become involved in caring for new arrivals more recently, after Chicago City Council tightened regulations on unscheduled drop-offs within the city in early December and bus companies countered by dropping off busloads of migrants outside the city limits.

St. Mark’s, Glen Ellyn sits less than two blocks from the village train station, where 11 buses bringing migrants to Chicago have arrived since December. Volunteers from the parish who speak Spanish have begun welcoming passengers with coats, hats and gloves, as well as help finding trains to Chicago, where the city maintains a landing zone for migrants.

“These are people who have been through a great deal, and we just want to say hello, welcome, we see you and we care,” the Rev. George Smith told the Daily Herald earlier this month.

The parish is accepting donations of new or gently used coats, hats, scarves and gloves of all sizes; contributions can be dropped off from 9 a.m. to noon on Mondays and Fridays and from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. on Tuesdays through Thursdays.

As the need grows, Cones encourages other Episcopalians to get involved. “We can start to prepare ourselves for this reality which isn’t going away,” he said. “Prepare to be willing to welcome people and help them get settled. We could rise to the occasion.”

Briceño concurs. “By providing a haven for these families, we are participating in the incarnational work of the Church, manifesting Christ’s love and compassion in the real world. … This is our faith made visible, a faith that champions dignity, solidarity, and the transformative power of love.”

The Sanctuary Task Force can assist congregations that want to become involved in assisting arriving migrants. The task force is also seeking donations to its Asylum Seekers Emergency Fund, which supports the immediate needs of new arrivals as they pursue the state benefits and legal status that can put them on the path to independence. The fund was seeded by the $ 6,776.25 given to the offering at Eucharist at last November’s diocesan convention. Learn more and donate to the Asylum Seekers Emergency Fund.