CHICAGO (WBBM NEWSRADIO) — Among the many legal clinics that have popped up across Chicago to help newly arrived migrants, one that took place on Saturday offered a face-to-face with local labor representatives.
The legal clinic — held at the UNITE HERE Local 1 Headquarters on South Wabash Avenue in the Loop — did more than simply introduce dozens of migrants to Chicago Federation of Labor (CFL) partners. The volunteers, which included attorneys and translators, helped individuals fill out the piles of legal paperwork necessary to gain Temporary Protected Status and work authorization.
“There’s a couple who worked at the airport,” said UNITE HERE Local 1 President Karen Kent. “They were both servers at the airport, and the husband was a doctor before in his country.”
Kent told WBBM that many migrants come to the U.S. with valuable skills in professions where employers are struggling to fill job vacancies. Until they’re able to practice their chosen profession in this country, though, many take on jobs in the service, labor and hospitality industries in order to make ends meet.