Mayor Brandon Johnson’s office responded to a Tuesday WTTW News report that members of his administration were made aware of concerns about unsanitary conditions at a migrant shelter in Pilsen weeks before a 5-year-old-boy fell ill at the shelter and later died at a hospital.

Illinois lawmakers return to Springfield with migrants top of mind. Bad weather prompts Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson to suspend his policy evicting migrants from city shelters after 60 days. And a plea from Illinois Gov. J.B. Pritzker to Texas Gov. Greg Abbott.

Emails from late October exclusively obtained by WTTW News shine new light on the timeline of when Mayor Brandon Johnson and his administration were made aware of conditions at a migrant shelter in Pilsen and what exactly those conditions were. 

“The next few days are a threat to the families and children you are sending here” because of the bitterly cold weather, Gov. J.B. Pritzker told Texas Gov. Greg Abbott.

Of the more than 30,000 migrants that have been sent to Chicago from the southern border, more than 200 were living at the city’s landing zone in the West Loop as of Thursday — using CTA buses as temporary shelters. 

Some Republican presidential candidates said they want to do away with birthright citizenship for the children of immigrants living in the U.S. unlawfully. Right now, anyone born in the United States automatically becomes a U.S. citizen.

The GoFundMe campaign organized on behalf of the parents of Jean Carlos Martinez Rivero has raised more than $6,000 out of its $25,000 goal as of Thursday afternoon.

Illinois officials said they don’t know when or where migrants will arrive, nor how many — making it difficult to coordinate care, particularly given that many asylum seekers don’t have coats and clothing appropriate for Chicago’s winter weather.

Chicago’s 60-day shelter-stay limit has asylum seekers looking to find permanent housing in the area. A new privately funded apartment-style living arrangement has been in the works since October and could offer a solution.

The tally, which includes all invoices paid through Dec. 15, defies predictions released by city officials in mid-October that the cost of the migrant crisis to taxpayers would top $361 million by the end of 2023.

The Chicago City Council passed an ordinance allowing officials to impound buses bringing migrants to the city outside official hours and landing zones. It’s led multiple suburbs to follow in Chicago’s footsteps by passing similar emergency policies.

Nervous officials in suburbs and outlying cities near Chicago and New York are giving migrants arriving from the southern border a cold shoulder amid attempts to circumvent restrictions on buses in those two cities, opening a new front in response to efforts led by Texas Republican Gov. Greg Abbott.

The last year was filled with plenty of big news. As a new year begins, here’s a look at the stories that will continue into 2024.

“We’re trying to put ourselves in the place of these families,” Haugan Elementary School principal Heather Yutzy said. “If we were in this situation, what would we need for our kids?”

The growth rate for the United States in the past year was 0.53%, about half the worldwide figure. The U.S. added 1.7 million people and will have a population on New Year's Day of 335.8 million people.

The United States has given clear signs, including temporarily closing key border rail crossings into Texas, that it wants Mexico to do more to stop migrants hopping freight cars, buses and trucks to the border.