Chicago health authorities say that a five-year-old boy, Jean Carlos Martinez, staying at a migrant shelter in Pilson, died on Sunday after complaining his stomach hurt before passing out.
Four other children and an 18-year-old woman fell ill at the same shelter on Monday and were taken to the hospital. The shelter had been the subject of complaints of unsanitary and unsafe conditions before the child's death. There's also a question about whether the city-run shelter is feeding the migrants enough food.
The Pilsen shelter is a converted warehouse that opened in October. It currently holds more than 2,000 migrants and is run by Favorite Health Staffing.
Favorite Health Staffing has been embroiled in controversy since records came to light showing that one shelter manager was paid $15,000 a week and a nurse earned $20,000 in one week. Questions have been raised about how many employees are staffing these shelters and what they're doing to provide for the migrants.
Conditions in the Pilsen warehouse/shelter are appalling.
Annie Gomberg, a lead volunteer who was helping migrants temporarily staying at the Austin District (15th) police station said she is worried about what this might mean for the other children in the large warehouse. She woke up asking herself what more could have been done.
Migrants sent her videos of conditions from inside the shelter which showed sick, crying children and the ceiling leaking. Migrants also reported mold and freezing temperatures.
“We were unable to get this child sufficient medical attention. We have to stop the suffering,” Gomberg said.
Gomberg heard that police officers who reported to the scene Sunday afternoon asked the city to shut down the shelter because of its unlivable conditions.
Mayor Brandon Johnson is blaming Texas Governor Abbott for the little boy's death. He told reporters Monday afternoon that “we are obviously deeply sorry and hurt by this loss” but it's not the city's fault.
“They’re just dropping off people anywhere. Do you understand how raggedy and how evil that is … and then you want to hold us accountable for something that’s happening down at the border? It’s sickening,” the mayor said.
When asked about poor conditions at the shelter, Johnson said, “It sounds like you’re drawing a conclusion based upon a site." Favorite Staffing is being accused of not supplying medical attention to the boy — a question Johnson avoided answering.
“Do you hear me? They’re showing up sick. The issue is not just how we respond in the city of Chicago, it’s the fact that we have a governor — a governor, an elected official in the state of Texas — that is placing families on buses without shoes, cold, wet, tired, hungry, afraid, traumatized,” Johnson said.
No mayor in America does "hysteria" as well as Johnson.
Related: Chicago Begins Impounding 'Rogue' Migrant Buses as a New Law Increases Penalties
One disturbing bit of news: Favorite Health staffers are not allowing volunteers into the Pilsen shelter to hand out over-the-counter medicine like Tylenol. There are complaints that the staffers refused to call an ambulance for the boy until it was too late.
Abhishek Dhar, a physician who helped migrants staying at police stations, claims that the migrants aren't receiving appropriate health care services from staffers.
”Even if they do ask for help, it’s not until they’re pretty sick,” he said. “Right now (migrants) have little to no contact with medical providers until they make it to their clinic visit.”
Unvaccinated migrants have led to an explosion of chicken pox in the city.
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