Update and correction! I had originally read about 4 reports calling this family “refugees” (I guess they are in a sense!), but reader ‘pungent peppers’ has found a lengthier story about them and they do appear to be American “refugees” from Chicago. Here is the link. It is still worth noting that nothing has improved for the South Side since Obama began his political career there, and the US State Department is still pouring refugees into crime-ridden Chicago neighborhoods.
This is a strange story. A family of ten “refugees” was found by police under a pile of blankets in Madison, Wisconsin. Communication with the police was difficult, but adults related to the officers that they had to leave Chicago (aka the murder capital of the USA) because of the gun violence in their South Side neighborhood (Englewood).
![](https://www.newyorker.com/images/2008/07/21/p465/080721_r17562_p465.jpg)
No report on how the four adults and six children traveled the 150 miles to Madison. And, there is no mention of what nationality they are—only their resettlement contractor knows for sure!
From The Inquisitr:
During morning patrols, a police officer discovered a family of 10 huddled under a makeshift shelter of blankets on the street. They were war refugees in a way, but this sad story doesn’t come from Syria… it comes from Madison, Wisconsin.
The Smoking Gun reports that the group were “shocked” by the officer’s concern for their well-being, though possibly not as shocked as he was to hear their tale. This group of four adults, a five-month-old baby, several toddlers, and two older children had been on the Madison streets for two weeks, camping near the State Capitol.
And they came from Chicago.
“They explained they had escaped the Englewood neighborhood of Chicago’s South Side,” the police said.
The group explained that they had “fled Chicago from where a lot of shootings and deaths were occurring.” The officer added, “It was just too dangerous to stay; some people they knew were killed.”
Police added that the group had not been panhandling or asking for handouts.
The family received immediate aid from the police, including food, money and short-term housing provided by three local churches. The report concludes that while the family’s “future still holds many questions,” they are now “away from the bullets.”
The report neglects to describe how the family managed to make the 150-mile journey from Chicago to Madison.
Chicago is a major resettlement city. According to stats at WRAPS.net, since 2001, the US State Department has resettled 11,406 refugees in the impoverished neighborhoods of the city. 1,023 new refugees were resettled there this year. Here is one story we posted in 2009 about Chicago’s Heartland Alliance placing refugees in slum neighborhoods—guess the beat goes on! Be sure to read that 2009 post to the end for Obama’s own connection to Heartland Alliance and Bill Ayers.