Sanctuary in the Schoolyard? The Case of the Wadsworth Migrant Shelter

As sanctuary cities face an influx of asylum seekers bused from the United States-Mexico border, the city of Chicago's decision to house incoming migrants in shelters has faced backlash from some community residents. Community frustrations on Chicago's South Side have often been characterized as "Black-Latino tensions," highlighting the ways that the recent increase in migration implicates racial dynamics in Chicago and across the United States. Based on findings from an interview-based case study of community responses to a shelter in a predominantly African American community, this paper instead argues that local tensions surrounding the migrant shelter are not, at their core, rooted in underlying racial animosity between incoming migrants and longtime city residents. I argue that the tensions are an outcome of a web of policies and practices that produce a sociolegal environment that, first, discounts, resident input; second, hinders intercommunity communication and, third, stymies neighborhood-based solutions. The analysis presented highlights important bridges between critical refugee studies (CRS) and critical race theory (CRT). It also serves as a starting point for research on the intersections between migration law and local municipal regulations, and the ways in which they affect old and new Chicago neighbors in parallel manners.