A Welcoming City? The Reception of Asylum-Seekers in Chicago

This grant is funded in part by the Carnegie Corporation of New York.

Over 35,000 mostly Venezuelan asylum-seekers have arrived in Chicago since August 2022 after the Texas Governor sent the first bus of asylum-seekers to the city to test the openness of migrant-friendly Democratic areas. In response, Chicago bolstered its policies regarding immigrant integration by expanding asylum-seekers’ access to social welfare benefits and developing a new shelter system. Sociologist Chiara Galli will examine how the state, civil society, and local residents have responded to the influx of asylum-seekers. She will conduct interviews and participant observation for her study.