Although no busloads of immigrants have arrived in Elgin as they have in other communities, there are many people here who can benefit from the $1.27 million asylum-seekers state grant money awarded to the city, Mayor Dave Kaptain said.

The funding, administered through the Illinois Department of Human Services, is part of a $41.5 million award earmarked for housing support, food, wraparound services, legal support and health care for asylum-seekers.

Elgin Mayor Dave Kaptain said the money locally will go to three agencies: Food for Greater Elgin, Centro de Informacion and Well Child Center.

The city applied for the grant and is one of six communities to receive it. Funding, which is to be used for critical services needed by asylum-seekers who have be relocated to the Chicago area and other parts of Illinois, was also awarded to Chicago, Joliet, Oak Park, Urbana and Lake County.

While Elgin is not an official sanctuary city, it is known for welcoming migrants going back to the 1960s, when people of Lao descent started arriving in the city following the Vietnam War, Kaptain said. That situation is similar to what asylum-seekers from Venezuela and other countries are fleeting, he said.

“(People) come to the city of Elgin because we are a city, and that’s where the services are and that’s where people come to get help,” the mayor said. “I think we have some issues that have been ongoing for a long time.”

The three local agencies receiving money “have been funding people coming here from other countries for many, many months,” he said. “They provide services to anyone who walks through the door. If they need food, they get them food. If they need clothes, they get them clothes.”

The money will help migrants coming to Elgin as well as people who are already here, Kaptain said.

Most of the recently arrived newcomers to the city are from Venezuela, he said.

Many arrived in the United States barefoot after crossing through numerous countries to reach the U.S. and Mexican borders, he said.

President Joe Biden’s administration recently announced that 472,000 Venezuelan refugees and asylum-seekers are eligible for legal immigration status and will be allowed to get work permits. The migration has been spurred by a country that continues to have civil unrest, a high crime rate, starvation and high mortality rates, according to the U.S. State Department.

Dianha Ortega-Ehreth, executive director at Centro de Información, said in a statement that her organization welcomes the support, which will allow them to provide the help people require.

“We are excited about this opportunity because it provides us the means to more effectively assist those who need our services,” she said. “This additional funding is critical to the work we do each and every day.”

The funding was announced by Gov. J.B. Pritzker.

“Although we will still need significant federal support as this crisis continues, these grants will empower local governments to build out services and supports for new arrivals so we can successfully transition them into our state and give them the opportunity to complete their legal asylum process,” Pritzker said in a statement.