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CBS News
03-06-2025
- Business
- CBS News
Emotional Baltimore councilmember asks city to commit more funding for immigrant services
Baltimore City Councilwoman Odette Ramos tearfully asked the mayor's office to devote more funding to immigrant service support. Ramos wants roughly a $2 million commitment for the Office of Immigration Affairs within the proposed budget. The current proposal includes more than $960,000 toward the Office of Immigrant Affairs. "The ask for legal services is $1.1 million," Ramos said. "[Director of the Mayor's Office of Immigrant Affairs] Catalina [Rodriguez-Lima] has already raised some of it. The other ask is for $950,000 for immigrant community support." Emotional conversation over immigrant support Emotional moments inside Baltimore's City Hall Chambers on Monday led to a series of discussions on funding for immigrant resources. "I want to make sure the public understood what you said," Councilwoman Ramos said to Rodriguez-Lima. "People are planning on family separation." "Yes. Sadly, tier one, the goal of tier one is for…parents to leave guardianship forms," Rodriguez-Lima said. Ramos, holding back tears, asked for the mayor's office to commit. "I mean it's heartbreaking what our community is going through," Ramos said. Finding money in the budget Calvin Young, the Mayor's Chief of Staff, quickly responded to Ramos's request. "I can commit to you right now that we are absolutely, this is one of the top priorities right now for the mayor's office to increase in this budget," Young said. No amount was given at Monday's hearing. Young added that an increase in funds in one area means a decrease in funds for another area. "We also have to figure out where we'll make cuts," Young said. "That's what the team is working on right now." CASA pushes for help with immigrant families Earvin Gonzalez, the deputy director of regional services for CASA Baltimore and Central Maryland, an immigration advocacy group, attended the hearing. "You were able to see the impact with…how this is going to affect our city residents, not just immigrant families, but how it affects the city as a whole," Gonzalez said. Gonzalez said it's reassuring to hear the mayor's office considers this a priority. He added he's happy to see a councilmember bring the concern over immigration support to the forefront. "At the end of the day, these are families who are here," Gonzalez said. "They have jobs. They have kids here and they're getting ripped apart." Ramos's comments came after CASA pushed for more funding in the proposed budget. "While Baltimore's population declines, immigrant families are choosing to stay and build their futures here," said Crisaly De Los Santos, the director for CASA Baltimore and Central Maryland. "The city has made progress on language access, and we're grateful. But now is the time to rise to the moment. We must invest in essential services, legal aid, education, and community defense. These help immigrant families not just survive, but thrive. The proposed budget doesn't reflect these needs." Gonzalez said CASA has started a petition to fight for more funding in the 2026 budget. He urges citizens to contact their councilmembers to help with their mission. "That public pressure to show that this is what city residents want and need," Gonzalez said.
CBS News
12-05-2025
- CBS News
Community groups to join in effort to prevent teen takeovers in Chicago
Over the weekend, Chicago -police warned of another possible teen takeover, but no such thing manifested like others we've seen — which have involved young people jumping on cars and crowding in the street downtown and in other areas. Meanwhile, the City of Chicago has launched a different approach to preventing such teen takeovers from happening. For the first time ever, city agencies are trying to partner with community groups to be on the scene as takeovers tart. CBS News Chicago on Monday got a sneak peek at how they are planning to map out their response. "The community-based organization element would be new," said Manuel Whitfield, director of violence prevention and community safety for the Mayor's Office of Community Safety. "We've never done it before." CBS News Chicago met with Whitfield in Streeterville, where two separate teen takeovers led to shootings back in March. On March 9, a 46-year-old woman and her son were caught up in a teen takeover near the AMC River East movie theater when the woman, a tourist, was shot in the arm. On March 28, a 15-year-old boy suffered a gunshot graze wound to the leg during a teen takeover in the same area, near Columbus Drive and Illinois Street. A 14-year-old boy has since been charged with shooting the 15-year-old. Ogden Plaza, a multi-level concrete space with trees and benches, is where teens often congregate. "Youth usually start gathering here on Illinois Street, and then they start moving," Whitfield said. "They usually end up here [at Ogden Plaza], and what happens is we already preplanned, have had CPD in all of these set areas." The city has tried fencing and community alerts. But the newest method is community organizations — with representatives who would walk alongside those of city agencies. The community organizations are now preparing by scoping out the scenes of the large gatherings. "What makes this approach different is we're actually all working together," said Deputy Mayor for Community Safety Garien Gatewood. As Gatewood explained, representatives of the groups would walk around and talk to kids. They would explain the curfew and offer resources, community involvement, and job opportunities. "Ultimately, having those conversations person-to-person, and that really helps drive down the anger and angst sometimes out," Gatweood said. "You have to be integrated, because look, there's sometimes hundreds of kids down here — and you have to be part of that work, and actually physically being out here." There is one group whose voices have not yet been part of the conversation — young adults who might attend a takeover. "Me as a young person, I just feel like people are describing us as wild animals — and that's not what we are," said Jaqueza Thomas of the Mayor's Youth Commission. "Young people like myself just want a safe space to have fun and enjoy themselves." The young adults can explain what they're looking for when they go downtown. "We don't want to come like down here, downtown, to destroy anything or cause chaos," Thomas said. "We just really want to enjoy our time as young people." The Chicago Police Department has also played a large role in planning with community groups and other city agencies — explaining how they would verify a possible takeover, reach out to the person posting about it, and make a resource plan for traffic control and curfew enforcement. This is all as they emphasize that the goal is not to arrest people who are downtown just to have a good time. All the stakeholders want to try this new approach and see how it goes.
