On Tuesday evening, February 27, John Heiderscheidt attended North Shore community event “When the Road Stops Here”. This event was created by North Shore resident Jessica Seigel. Seigel founded the nonprofit organization called North Shore Neighbors Say Bienvenidos in an effort to help migrants.
When the Road Stops Here featured several speakers, including NBC 5’s Sandra Torres. Torres shared her own story of migrating to the US from Columbia and spoke about the struggles her family faced. Other speakers were migrant families who shared their stories of life before coming to the US.
Since August 2022, over 34,000 migrants have been bused to Chicago and surrounding suburbs from Texas. Shelters are overcrowded and buses are dropping migrants off in the northern suburbs with little to no resources. North Shore Neighbors Say Bienvenidos is volunteer operated and was created to assist newcomer families being bused to the northern suburbs from Texas. The organization provides resources for migrants as well as volunteer opportunities and ways community members can get involved.
With a turnout of over 400 people at the event, Attorney Heiderscheidt said, “It was encouraging to see so many people from the North Shore community take an interest in this situation which is turning quickly to a humanitarian disaster on an unacceptable scale.”