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Michael Loria

Reporter
Migrants walking behind a fence
Race, Class & Communities
Chicago slowly starts evicting migrants from shelters
By Michael Loria
 
Advocates for migrants protest Saturday downtown at Pritzker Park, upset by the possible eviction of recently arrived migrants from shelters across the city. The protest drew members of different organizations, some demanding permanent housing for migrants.
Environment & Public Health
Mayor Johnson confirms migrant evictions coming, despite measles outbreak and protests
By Fran Spielman  and Michael Loria
 
A family of asylum-seekers looks through a pile of donated clothing Tuesday morning at St. Edmund Catholic Church and school in Oak Park.
Politics
Paying millions to house migrants, Chicago failed to take Catholic archdiocese up on offers of free rent
By Michael Loria
 
Ivan and Maya are Ukrainians now staying at a Schiller Park nonprofit while they recover from injuries they suffered during a Russian bombing strike in 2022, the aftermath of which was captured in the Oscar-winning film “20 Days in Mariupol.”
Arts & Culture
Ukrainians in Chicago featured in Oscar-winning documentary ’20 Days in Mariupol’
By Michael Loria
 
Kindergarten students at St. Nicholas Cathedral School hold up sunflowers during a prayer vigil for Ukraine inside the school’s gymnasium in Ukrainian Village on Thursday.
Race, Class & Communities
Chicago’s Ukrainian community defiantly looks ‘evil in the eye’ to mark Russian invasion anniversary: ‘You’re not winning’
By Michael Loria
 
Alivio
Politics
A Pilsen medical center that treats migrants is furloughing workers
By Kristen Schorsch  and Michael Loria
 
Migrants queue in the cold as they look for a shelter outside a Migrant Assistance Center at St. Brigid Elementary School on Tuesday, Dec. 5, 2023, in New York.
Race, Class & Communities
What New York’s migrant shelter limits could mean for Chicago: ‘Expect utter chaos’
By Michael Loria
 
With temperatures in the mid-30s Monday, Jesus Infante, 23, an asylum-seeker from Venezuela, stands outside Chicago Transit Authority warming buses at Chicago’s designated landing zone for new migrant arrivals at 800 S. Desplaines St. in the West Loop.
Race, Class & Communities
Migrants — adults and children — languish in buses for days at city ‘landing zone’
By Michael Loria
 
Hundreds of asylum seekers take shelter inside a waiting area for shuttles near O’Hare International Airport’s Terminal 2 in October 2023.
Politics
A charter plane company used to transport deportees was hired to bring asylum-seekers to Chicago
By Michael Loria , Tom Schuba , and 1 more
 
A former Pilsen warehouse is now a migrant shelter holding more than 2,300 people.
Race, Class & Communities
Migrants say illnesses spreading quickly at crowded Pilsen shelter where several fell ill
By David Struett  and Michael Loria
 
This converted warehouse in the 2200-2300 block on South Halsted Street in Pilsen houses more than 2,000 migrants.
Race, Class & Communities
5-year-old boy dies, five others hospitalized after becoming ill at Pilsen migrant shelter
By Kade Heather  and Michael Loria
 
Wilfredo Garcia works on a painting of baseball player Roberto Clemente outside the American Islamic College in Uptown in August.
Arts & Culture
Venezuelan artist paints his way to Chicago: ‘I never dreamed I would do that’
By Michael Loria
 
Ald. Chris Taliaferro (29th) says a plan to turn the Amundsen Park field house into a migrant shelter has been abandoned and park programming will return.
Race, Class & Communities
Amundsen Park won’t become migrant shelter, park programs return
By Michael Loria
 
aerial view of tent frames being erected in vacant lot
Race, Class & Communities
Brighton Park migrant tents begin rising
By Michael Loria
 
Mayor Brandon Johnson on Tuesday announced the Unity Initiative, which will bring about 20 migrants each to a few local churches for temporary shelter and assistance with services such as legal help, housing and eventually jobs.
Environment & Public Health
Mayor Johnson announces new church-city partnership to house migrants
By Michael Loria
 
Migrant getting off bus in Chicago
Race, Class & Communities
Chicago is changing its migrant arrivals playbook
By Patricia Nabong  and Michael Loria
 
Venezuelan migrants Cristian Gonzalez and Nazareth Garcia chat with their 2-year-old daughter, Aranza, at the Austin District police station in Chicago. Without work authorization, migrants are left dependent on the city, creating the situation where over 12,000 migrants are in shelters and over 3,000 are at police stations and airports.
Race, Class & Communities
Biden migrant work permit clinic launches in Chicago
By Michael Loria
 
Maurice Richmond standing in front of fridge in grocery story
Environment & Public Health
Could the city of Chicago run its own grocery stores to close the gaps in low-access neighborhoods?
By Michael Loria  and Mariah Rush