Mayor wants Chicago to shelter young immigrants

Mayor Rahm Emanuel's administration is set to aggressively expand the amount of shelter available to children apprehended at the southern U.S. border, with plans to house as many as 1,000 additional young immigrants in Chicago by the end of this year.

The mayor's office also plans to tap the city's legal community to build what it described as a "broad-based pro bono campaign" to counsel the city's share of unauthorized immigrant children, a proposal hatched as federal authorities work to boost the government's capacity to shelter and care for the unprecedented number of children arriving from Latin America.

"The influx of unaccompanied child migrants is a growing humanitarian crisis that we can no longer ignore," Emanuel said in a statement.

"While we have our own challenges at home, we cannot turn our backs on children that are fleeing dangerous conditions," the mayor said. "We will do our part to ensure that these children are given access to services and treated fairly and humanely."

full: http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/local/ct-child-migrant-housing-met-20140727,0,5937520,full.story