International Institute plans to attract 500-plus migrants from Chicago to St. Louis to boost population, workforce

The International Institute of St. Louis within a year wants to attract at least 500 asylum-seekers and others from Latin America who are currently living in the Chicago area and will be authorized to work under a Biden Administration immigration program.

Karlos Ramirez, the institute’s vice president of Latino outreach, travelled to Chicago last week to meet with Beatriz Ponce de Leon, deputy mayor of immigrant, migrant and refugee rights. Ramirez said the session opened a “pathway and lines of communications” with Chicago City Hall, which is confronted with an influx of migrants, mostly from Venezuela, arriving by buses sent by Texas Gov. Greg Abbott.

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