‘They Took Away My Son’s Life’: A Migrant Family Grapples with Loss After a Deadly Arson

They were trapped: The apartment’s front door led to the fire, and they struggled to open several windows in their apartment, the family told Borderless Magazine.

“We were looking for a way to get out or escape,” she said.

Finally, firefighters helped Mariana and her family escape one by one through different windows from the third-floor apartment. On the ground, she learned her son Adrian had been taken to a hospital by ambulance, but her 24-year-old brother-in-law, Urbna Yolmar, was still missing.

Yolmar was later pronounced dead at the scene, and her son died from smoke and fire-related injuries days later.

“We came to the U.S. hoping for a better life for him,” said Mariana, her voice breaking. “He was our only child.”

More than a year after Adrian’s death, Mariana is still searching for answers about the night of the fire, which the police investigated as an arson. 

When Mariana and her family arrived in Chicago in the fall of 2023 seeking asylum, their dream of finding a home was turned upside down as they found themselves trapped in a maze of government bureaucracies: the city’s migrant shelter system, the state of Illinois’ emergency rental relief program for migrants, and an arson investigation at an apartment the state helped place them in.

From Venezuela to Halsted Shelter in Chicago

Mariana’s journey to Chicago began years earlier in Venezuela, where she had studied medicine before pausing her education to give birth to Adrian. In the face of political and economic uncertainty, the family migrated to Colombia. There, Mariana worked at a restaurant, and her husband, Eleazar Perdomo, was a delivery driver. After a few years, Mariana’s family sought asylum in the U.S. as Colombia faced its own economic uncertainty and safety concerns.

They crossed the U.S.-Mexico border and came to Chicago in October 2023, hoping for a fresh start. 

“We came looking for a better future, more stability, better health, better education, and more economic opportunities,” Mariana said.

En 51,000 people came to Chicago between 2022 and 2024, as Texas Gov. Greg Abbott and other Republican leaders bused and flew thousands of migrants and asylum seekers arriving at the border to Democratic-led cities.  

In response, city officials opened nearly three dozen migrant shelters across the city to temporarily house and feed the migrants.

In late October 2023, Mariana and her family moved into the Halsted Shelter in Pilsen, where they lived until April 2024.

At its peak, the Halsted Shelter, an industrial complex the city converted into a temporary shelter, was home to approximately 2,300 new arrivals and became the subject of multiple investigations by Borderless Magazine. The first of these detailed inhumane living conditions and rampant illnesses. Just days after the investigation was published, cinco años Jean Carlos Martinez Rivero died of sepsis after contracting multiple viruses in the shelter. 

In the weeks leading up to his death, migrants made at least 17 grievance reports to the Office of Emergency Management and Communications (OEMC), decrying spoiled food, the rationing of water and mistreatment from staff. 

In formal complaints to the city and in interviews with Borderless, migrants say shelter staff did not take their medical concerns seriously. A local alderman also cautioned city officials that concerns of illnesses spreading were not being taken seriously.

“This was a preventable death. And it was 100% expected,” said Britt Hodgdon, a social worker who volunteered to support migrants, at the time. “We knew this was coming. We’ve been raising the alarms for months and months and months."

The Halsted Shelter closed in September 2024 en medio de ongoing health concerns, including a measles outbreak and reports of mistreatment. Many migrants and immigrant advocates at the time praised the city’s decision to wind down the temporary shelter system.

“When they took us to the shelter, it was very hard to live among [thousands] of people,” Mariana said. Still, she was grateful to have a place to sleep. “It was not very comfortable but as  the months went by, you had to adapt.”

But for Mariana and many others, finding a permanent home after leaving the shelters was not easy. 

“Decent, safe, and sanitary” housing 

Mariana and her family first learned about the state’s Asylum Seeker Emergency Rental Assistance Program (ASERAP) while living inside the Halsted Shelter. 

Launched in December 2022, ASERAP offered a one-time grant of up to $15,000 to help new arrivals transition into affordable housing. The program, managed by the Illinois Department of Human Services (IDHS) with support from Illinois Housing Development Authority (IHDA), initially covered six months of rental assistance before the state capped the program at three months for migrants who arrived at shelters before Nov. 16, 2023.

At the time, local leaders heralded the program as a critical state initiative to find alternative housing and support the city’s ability to absorb thousands of migrants arriving in Illinois.

“As many of the asylum seekers have limited-to-no knowledge of the English language, IHDA intentionally designed the program to ensure they did not incur any barriers to applying,” the state wrote in a 2023 award submission to the National Council of State Housing Agencies. 

“We leaned on [Housing Stability Service] HSS providers to help in identifying landlords with available units to safely house residents, as the asylum seekers were in a completely foreign territory and in need of immediate and critical assistance,” the application reads.

The state noted that housing providers must certify that the “housing they will provide is decent, safe, and sanitary." 

Catholic Charities’ case workers inside shelters helped families like Mariana’s find housing and apply for ASERAP funding.

From December 2022 to December 2024, the state helped over 6,600 individuals move out of shelters and into apartments as part of the program, according to figures provided to Borderless by IDHS.

The resettlement of new arrivals in mostly Black neighborhoods in Chicago, however, escalated tensions among longtime residents who said they had been overlooked for city resources in favor of new arrivals. 

South Shore became the top neighborhood where migrants found permanent housing through ASERAP, according to records obtained through a Freedom of Information Request by Borderless. Many families ended up in segregated communities and underresourced schools with no bilingual services, Chalkbeat Chicago and Block Club Chicago reported.

In April 2024, Mariana and her family moved into a two-bedroom apartment in South Shore through the state’s ASERAP program. Seven family members lived inside the apartment, including her son, husband, his brother and her sister’s family, which included Mariana’s brother-in-law and three-year-old nephew. Despite the close quarters, the family was grateful to have a private bathroom and kitchen after living in the shelter.

“It was our first time living in an apartment building in the United States,” Mariana said.

But her optimism quickly faded.

Not long after moving in, Mariana’s family noticed the frequency with which police were called for various issues.

Police responded to over a dozen calls for help from the apartment complex and the surrounding block in the months before the family moved in, according to data from the City of Chicago. Complaints ranged from domestic disputes to burglary and assaults, data shows.

“The police were always here,” Mariana said. “The fire department was always here.”

The family frequently overheard arguments in one of the other units in the building, Mariana recalled. In their short time in the building, she told Borderless that some of their mail and mail from former tenants who had previously lived in the unit had been set on fire. Her brother-in-law’s car was also hit while parked outside.

They didn’t report the fire and damage to the police because they thought that was “normal” in the United States, Mariana said.

Building Inspection Records

The family also didn’t know that the apartment building they called home had a long history of building code violations and several owners over the years.

Most recently, 7756 S. Phillips Limited Liability Company purchased the building in April 2023. The property has two registered addresses listed as 7756 S. Phillips St. and 2414 E. 78th St., according to property records.

Mortgage documents show Yissocher Rotenberg was listed as a managing member of the LLC. Chicago Crossing Management LLC was authorized to manage the property, and Chicago Crossing completed the ASERAP application for the property in March 2024, according to ASERAP records obtained by Borderless Magazine.

Under ASERAP, the state paid the property owner a deposit and $1,700 per month to cover rent, according to a lease agreement shared with Borderless Magazine.

A review of Department of Buildings records identified several building code violations in city inspections conducted between 2006 and 2022.

During that period, inspectors cited the building for issues such as missing or low-battery smoke detectors, blocked exits and garbage accumulation. Some of the previous violations that failed to be corrected led to at least 11 administrative hearings to address building code violations, according to building records.

The violations that led to administrative hearings have been brought into full compliance before 2023, according to the city’s law department.

Department of Buildings Deputy Commissioner John Scott told Borderless Magazine that the agency conducted “permanent inspections here” at the property due to its history of violations.

However, Borderless did not find inspection reports from 2023 or 2024 — the period when the building’s owner began receiving ASERAP funding and when the fire occurred.

When asked the reason for no inspection in 2023 and before the fire in 2024, a Department of Buildings spokesperson, Nefsa’Hyatt Brown said in an email that the agency is “required to conduct periodic inspections, not annual.”

After the fire in June 2024, the property sustained substantial damage, including problems with heating. City officials were unable to reach 7756 S. Phillips LLC and Rotenberg, and a receiver was appointed by a judge in July 2024 to help coordinate and vacate the building in November 2024, according to Scott and Brown of the Department of Buildings.

“The property is currently in receivership, and the receiver is keeping the property vacant and secure,” a spokesperson for the city’s Department of Law said in an email.

Rotenberg did not respond to multiple requests for comment.

The State’s Vetting System

State officials overseeing ASERAP approved the apartment building to house new arrivals in late March 2024, according to IHDA records obtained by Borderless.

“When the ASERAP applicant applied, the Illinois Housing Development Authority would screen the address for any active code violations and forward the findings on to the Illinois Department of Human Services for final determination,” said Andrew Field, IHDA’s assistant director of government and public affairs specialist.

“This [screening] was done to ensure the health and safety of the asylum seekers as they continued on their path to independence and prosperity in the United States, ” Field said.

ASERAP records from IHDS indicate that state officials found no active building code violations when they approved the building for the program.

Both IHDA and IDHS told Borderless Magazine that ASERAP applicants received “a toolkit to support their housing search, including information on preparing for a unit walk-through, a unit walk-through checklist, and information on tenant rights and responsibilities.”

When asked about the vetting process, Rachel Otwell, director of communications at the Illinois Department of Human Services (IDHS), said landlords had to sign a lease or a lease attestation before submitting an application, which stated they would be required to make necessary improvements to the unit and notify the resident that the building is non-compliant with building code.

Landlords were also required to complete an online application that validated ownership, social security number and a photo ID. If a landlord did not turn over the keys, there were steps to take for funds to be returned and to void the lease, she said.

“If the dwelling or building are in violation of [the] building code and/or the local landlord-tenant ordinance, [the] tenant has the right to terminate the Landlord-Tenant relationship and vacate the dwelling within 30 days,” according to the lease attestation.

After an apartment was accepted into the state’s ASERAP program, guidelines placed responsibility on residents to raise concerns or file complaints if they believed building standards were not being met.

For families like Mariana’s, who faced language barriers and had recently transitioned from poverty and city shelters, understanding the difference between ordinary housing conditions and potential violations in Chicago was often difficult.

Otwell noted that “IDHS, the Illinois Housing Development Authority, and housing partners occasionally fielded complaints from tenants who received assistance from the program. If a landlord faced multiple complaints, they were no longer eligible to receive funding from ASERAP.”

However, it’s unclear how the state tracked these complaints.

Borderless filed multiple records requests for complaints submitted to IHDA and IDHS, but was told neither agency kept those records.

“IDHS is not responsible for monitoring complaints about the housing conditions filed by tenants who moved to apartments under the Asylum Seeker Emergency Rental Assistance Program,” the agency wrote to a Borderless Magazine’s records request.

“The Authority did not maintain a formal complaint process or a complaint intake form,” according to IHDA’s FOIA request response to Borderless. “There was not a way in which complaints were ‘filed’ with the Authority,” and “Tenants could complain of their housing conditions informally to the Authority or to Authority partners over email or verbally, and records of those verbal communications could include notes in application files.”

After the fire

After escaping through the windows the night of the fire, Mariana and her family watched in horror as firefighters battled the blaze that consumed her apartment.

They waited for answers about her brother-in-law, Urbna Yolmar.

Mariana recalled that one family member tried to rush back in, but they couldn’t save him.

Yolmar tried to open the door to the hallway, hoping to help the family escape, but he got trapped by the smoke, the family told Borderless Magazine.

He was pronounced dead shortly after 6:30 a.m. He died of smoke inhalation after the stairs collapsed in the building, according to Chicago Police Department records.

Mariana’s young son, Adrian, suffered “75% full-thickness burns” and died three days later at Comer Children’s Hospital, according to the Cook County Medical Examiner’s report.

“I said goodbye to Adrian, and the hospital gave me his blanket and a small stuffed animal toy,” Mariana said, her voice trembling.

The Cook County Medical Examiner’s Office ruled Adrian’s death a homicide. A preliminary investigation by the Chicago Fire Department and Chicago Police Department labeled the fire arson that originated in the “interior stairways or ramp,” according to CFD records. No arrests have been made, and the homicide investigation remains ongoing, according to the Chicago Police Department.

The arson investigation, however, remains suspended pending the outcome of the homicide investigation, CPD said in an email.

Mariana’s three-year-old nephew was also hospitalized. He was traumatized by the fire and didn’t talk to anyone for days, the family said.

After the fire, tenants were temporarily relocated to hotels, and Mariana’s family was sent to another migrant shelter. The family received support from shelter staff, a hospital social worker, her son’s school, the Red Cross, and a local church, which helped the family find funds to cover funeral and cremation expenses and assisted with resettlement in another apartment.

A report from the Chicago Police Department obtained by Borderless Magazine stated that the fire damage resulted in a collapsed staircase and left the building uninhabitable. In the weeks that followed, the Department of Buildings filed a lawsuit in July 2024 after the owner failed to maintain it in a “safe condition,” Deputy Buildings Commissioner Scott said.

“The occupants were returned to the portion of the building that was not fire-damaged after the power had been restored,” said Scott. “However, the owner has failed to make the necessary repairs to turn on the heat, so it is no longer safe for anyone to stay in the building.”

The Department of Buildings worked with the Law Department to file a case in the Circuit Court of Cook County in July 2024, according to former Director of Public Affairs Michael Puccinelli.

“There is no heat in the building and the receiver cannot safely restore heat due to the fire damage that the owner failed to repair, a limited receiver was appointed by the Court and was authorized to vacate and secure the building and to provide relocation assistance in the amount of $1,500.00 for each occupied unit,” he said in July 2024.

The Department of Buildings also ordered the property owner to have a watchman at the site between 4 p.m. and 8 a.m. for “vacant and dangerous residential premises,” building records show.

Five months after the fire, tenants were ultimately relocated out of the apartment building safely by a neutral, third-party individual appointed by the court.

Searching for Answers

On Chicago’s West Side, Mariana clutches her 7-year-old son’s small blue blanket in a sparsely furnished apartment.

It smells of her son.

“I didn’t wash any of these because they have his smell,” she says.

More than a year after the fire, Mariana’s nightmares of the night of the fire never end.

“The moment I close my eyes, everything happens at once,” she said.

Mariana still clings to the hope that the person responsible for the fire will be found. “They don’t know the pain they caused…We lost two lives who had their future ahead of them,” she said.

“I really want to know why they did it,” she said. “They took away my son’s life—he was just a child.”

For now, her family remains caught between grief and survival, trying to piece together a future in a city that promised so much but delivered unimaginable loss.

“It would be like picking up where we left off…with the plans we initially had in mind,” Mariana’s sister says. “This time without two people, but I think we have to move forward.”

Even with therapy, the memories of the fire and her son haunt her.

Mariana holds on to a blanket and a framed print of her son’s electrocardiogram readings — her last connection to Adrian.

“He was our reason for everything,” she said. “I feel like Adrian is still with me… I carry his ashes, but the pain doesn’t leave.”

Fatema Hosseini is a former Roy W. Howard Investigative Reporting fellow covering immigrant communities for Borderless Magazine.