Chicago migrants on finding work in DNC host city
Migrants from Venezuela and Cuba spoke with Fox News Digital outside their Windy City shelter Thursday. (Michael Ruiz/Fox News Digital)
CHICAGO – The Windy City saw at least 30 people shot during the first three days of the DNC, including six homicides. Chicago police ramped up security this week during the Democratic National Convention, but violent crime remains a reality despite the removal of unsightly homeless encampments and good behavior from the city’s illegal immigrant community.
Early Wednesday, a 25-year-old delegate from Texas was robbed at gunpoint, according to authorities. The same suspect is believed to have ripped off two other people down the block.
CPD said 10 people were shot Wednesday, the third day of the DNC, one of them fatally. They also reported a stabbing.
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Tuesday saw 12 shooting victims, including one homicide.
As the DNC kicked off Monday, police responded to eight shootings and four murders, authorities said.
"As of now, week to day, that is double the number of murders of New York City, and Chicago has less than a third of New York’s population," said Paul Mauro, a retired NYPD inspector, citing city police statistics that show three murders this week total, not just shootings.
(Michael Ruiz/Fox News Digital )
In an alleyway just 2.8 miles from the 2024 Democratic National Convention at the United Center, several migrants were looking to pick up odd jobs and hustling candy for cash Thursday afternoon.
A local law enforcement source told Fox News Digital several of those in the alley were "almost certainly" gang members - but authorities didn’t expect much trouble from them.
"I’m sure they know to be on good behavior for the DNC," the source said.
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"I’m sure they know to be on good behavior for the DNC."
One migrant told Fox News Digital he arrived in Chicago about five months ago after making a trip north from Venezuela that he described as "very dangerous." He was looking for work and taking odd jobs.
Another man, wearing an ankle monitor he said had been placed by immigration officials, told Fox News Digital he is originally from Cuba but traveled from Peru into the U.S. over land. He said the ankle bracelet was preventing him from finding work.
The alley is across the street from a migrant shelter and neighbors have complained about the presence of suspected gang members and litter in their upscale commercial area.
(Michael Ruiz/Fox News Digital )
Several men approached Fox News Digital and asked reporters to stop taking photos and leave.
"From what I’ve seen in New York, they were agenting the women and kids to go out and sell candy," Mauro said. "We know that’s a common migrant moneymaking endeavor, especially on city transportation systems — every New Yorker has seen this on the subways."
In Chicago, they also target drivers, according to Gene Roy, a former CPD chief.
"That's become a big thing now, the migrants selling candy at major intersections," he told Fox News Digital. "Most that I've seen are women, carrying infants in a backpack."
Although Bulls paraphernalia and tattoos are common in Chicago, federal authorities have warned they have also been adopted by Venezuelan gang members who are not fans of the team.
City officials had cleared out several tent encampments around Chicago in the months before delegates arrived to celebrate Vice President Kamala Harris’ nomination as the party’s 2024 presidential standard-bearer.
But crime has continued to plague the city with party elites in town.
Over the weekend before the convention, 26 shootings left 30 victims injured, five of whom died.
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Even so, the Chicago Tribune reported earlier this year that while the Windy City was seeing more migrant arrests, most of them had to do with nonviolent crimes, like stealing.
"Our officers are out there. They're out there. They're highly visible. And we have officers not only along the corridors downtown, in and around the venues of the Democratic National Convention, but also in our neighborhoods to continue to protect our people who are living in areas that are the most vulnerable," Chicago Police Department Superintendent Larry Snelling said during a Monday news conference. "Our officers are protecting the entire city."
Fox News’ Audrey Conklin contributed to this report.
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