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Felt blessed to report on this topic for my fellowship @City_Bureau. Here's what I found - a thread 🗒️ southsideweekly.com/seeking-home-w…
Asylum seekers are seeking refuge in another country due to persecution faced in his/her native country for the same reasons as refugees (1)
According to USCIS, securing an asylum interview—a process that once took 6-8 weeks—now takes around 3 years. (2)
Experts say staffing shortages, a 2014 influx of C. American immigrants, and a global refugee crisis of 65.6 million are behind delays (3)
Chicago's immigration court is particularly bad: It takes 1,230 days for a case to make its way thru Chicago’s fed immigration court (4)
That's over 3 years of waiting for many asylum seekers, a length second to only Colorado nationwide trac.syr.edu/phptools/immig… (5)
Many asylum seekers arrive with little savings, few language skills, and trauma from fleeing oppressive governments, war, and slavery (6)
Seekers are left w/ burden of housing w/ no access to a work permit for a 180-day wait period and limited to zero access to assistance (7)
US is alone among developed nations in withholding fed benefits and work permits (min. 180 day wait) from asylum seekers, says @hrw (8)
A 2013 Human Rights Watch @hrw report "At Least Let Them Work" talks of inhumane system hrw.org/report/2013/11… (9)
African asylum seekers make up 70% of cases at centers like @heartlandhelps Kovler Center, which serves survivors of foreign torture (10)
According to Kovler officials, around 55% of clients are homeless at intake, and 4 of 5 top countries of origin are found in Africa. (11)
Thru a series of As Told To interviews I tried to give a platform to 3 immigrants impacted by refugee crisis & a delayed asylum system (12)
Though there are many, many other stories to tell on this topic. Voices from Mali, Congo Brazzaville and Somalia included in article. (13)
For info on @heartlandhelps Kovler Center on the North Side. It's one of the US oldest torture survivor centers heartlandalliance.org/kovler/ (14)
