CHICAGO (WLS) -- Chicago's hotel industry is putting support behind a bill to fast-track work permits for migrants.
Right now, they have to be in Chicago for months before they can even apply for a permit. Hotels are desperate for workers, and many migrants in the city are eager to get to work.
Shuttered hotels, city colleges and police stations all have become shelters for the over 10,000 migrants who have arrived in Chicago since last August.
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"There is not enough money left in government to help month after month for the thousands of people coming to our cities," said Netza Roldán with the Binational Institute of Human Development.
Roldán's nonprofit has been helping the migrants. He said the solution is putting migrants to work as soon as possible.
"They want to work. They are desperate to work," Roldán said.
But, federal law prohibits the migrants from working, and employers from hiring them, until the asylum-seekers are approved for a work permit. The process takes months. The first step is submitting an application for asylum.
"Folks in that situation have to wait 180 days, and then they can apply for a work permit. In the meantime, they have to fend for themselves for the six months or so," said Fred Tsao with the Illinois Coalition for Immigrant and Refugee Rights.
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