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Mayor Lori Lightfoots plans to house some of the city’s growing migrant population in a former high school in the South Shore neighborhood, prompting outcry from frustrated residents who say they have been left out of the process planning during a crowded meeting on Thursday evening.
I have nothing against migrants, said lifelong resident Marjorie Love, 85, who lives across from the closed South Shore High School, which the city offered to house newcomers. But if you have 250 people to house, you have to find another place.
The meeting comes as the city moves dozens of migrants from police stations to temporary respite centers set up in public facilities, including country homes in the Chicago Park District where some spring programs must be moved to make way at the temporary shelter and a closed hotel in Streeterville. the Magnificent Thousand.
Hundreds of asylum-seeking migrants have arrived in Chicago in recent weeks, adding to the thousands who are already here after arriving last fall. City officials say the most recent influx has depleted resources and filled shelters to capacity.
There were 207 families residing inside Chicago police stations Thursday morning, Ald said. Byron Sigcho-Lopez, 25th, citing an unofficial tally shared with him by community groups. Dozens of migrants were shown sleeping side by side in the lobby of the Rogers Parks 24th District Police Station in a photo shared on social media and confirmed by law enforcement sources to the Tribune.
They are families with children, Sigcho-Lopez said.
The mayor’s spokesman, Ryan Johnson, said 80 asylum seekers were arriving each day, according to 311 calls. Sigcho-Lopez said the number could be even higher and will likely increase as Texas Governor Greg Abbott resumes sending migrants to Chicago by bus and pandemic-era federal border restrictions of title 42 will expire next week.
[ Migrants, advocates rally on May Day as Lightfoot, Pritzker blast Texas governor for plan to bus migrants to Chicago By Nell Salzman ]
The migrant arrivals are part of a national humanitarian crisis, Johnson wrote in an email to the Tribune.
We will continue to work with community organizations and local and community leaders to support those in need while addressing the concerns of local communities, Johnson wrote.
More than 8,000 migrants have arrived since Abbott began sending migrants to Chicago by bus last August, Lightfoot wrote in a letter criticizing Abbott’s decision to resume buses on Sunday.
The wave of migrants arriving in Chicago in the fall prompted the city to find new reception facilities. However, housing efforts have occasionally met with opposition. When city leaders first sought to reopen closed Wadsworth Elementary School in Woodlawn to house migrants in December, they faced backlash and protests from residents and leaders.
Many felt slighted by the city’s plan to repurpose a school that local residents had fought to keep open, Ald. Jeanette Taylor, 20th, said at the time. Two residents blocked a bus as migrants moved into the temporary shelter in February.
[ Woodlawn group welcomes migrants to community amid local and political opposition: We have a lot of space here ]
The city planned to house 250 migrants at school when the shelter opened, the Tribune reported at the time. Today, nearly 500 migrants are staying at the redeveloped elementary school, a spokesperson for Taylor’s office said Thursday. The shelter population has been at an all-time high in recent weeks, Johnson said.
The City has been anticipating an influx of newcomers since [being] informed of the May 11 federal deadline, he wrote.
Aldus. Michelle Harris, 8th, said the proposed shelter affects not just her neighborhood, but the entire South Side of Chicago. The reunion was to be held at the closed high school, 7627 S. Constance Ave., but was moved to International College Preparatory High on 75th Street because there were so many people planning to attend.
Community members raised their voices as city officials tried to speak. They lined up to ask questions.
We recognize this is a humanitarian crisis, but while this crisis may constitute an emergency for the City of Chicago, it is not an emergency for the South Shore community, Harris said.
This community just doesn’t have the capacity to help, Ald said. Anthony Beale, 9th.
The mayor’s office is working with city departments, aldermen, community organizers and leaders to identify new temporary housing sites where arriving migrants can await placement in shelter, Johnson said.
Chicago’s Magnificent Miles Inn hotel building at 162 E. Ohio St. is being used to house migrants, he confirmed. The Streeterville Hotel closed in 2020, according to its website.
City officials have repeatedly said they have no more resources available to support asylum seekers as the number of arrivals has reportedly increased tenfold.
We simply have no shelter, space or resources left,” Lightfoot wrote in his letter to Abbott.
The migrants sought refuge in police stations in the city. Dozens of people slept on the hard floors of the Rogers Parks 24th District Police Station this week. In the photo shared on Twitter, they packed the station concourse, wrapped in blankets.
[ Influx of migrants living at Chicago police stations as city, charity groups scramble to find them shelter ]
But in the early afternoon of Thursday, the migrants were evacuated from the station. They had been moved to the quarters of Leone Beach Park, station officers said.
Migrants are now housed in Chicago Park District country homes at Leone Beach Park and Brands Park in Avondale.
The Park District will move spring programming from Brands Park to other sites as asylum seekers are temporarily housed in the park’s country home, district spokeswoman Michele Lemons said.
In Leone Beach Park on Thursday afternoon, migrants arrived on school buses and entered the country house. Families with young children, many from Venezuela, entered the building with trash bags slung over their belongings. They carried pillows, blankets, diapers and folders with their immigration papers inside.
Move forward and find a seat, volunteers said in Spanish, hurrying them forward.
Lourie Hasbrook, a member of St. Gertrude Parish, stood outside with a backpack of children’s underwear and crayons, but was not allowed into the building. She said she planned to call Ald. Maria Hadden, 49th, to see what could be done.
It’s appalling, she said. I’ve heard the conditions here are bad, but I don’t know if they’re worse than at the police station where everyone was just on the floor against the walls.
Hasbrook said she understands the city is overwhelmed, but she knows there are a lot of people out there who want to help. She wondered why migrants weren’t allowed out and why there weren’t tables and chairs set up in the lawn.
It’s such a beautiful day, she said. It’s just depressing.
Marianny Rodriguez, 34, said she was brought to the country house last night from a police station, although she did not know which one. She said conditions at the country house were much the same as at the stations, but she noted that migrants received food at the new site. There were about 48 people inside, she said.
Were under a roof at least, and were grateful for that, she told the Tribune in Spanish.
Jessica Chirino, 31, and her husband, Jhonny Caicado, entered the building with their 5-year-old daughter. The Tribune spoke to Chirino and his family at the 16th District Police Station more than a week ago.
All media and volunteers have been asked to stay outside the caution tape hung around the building.
Women and children sometimes strolled outside to gaze at Lake Michigan. They stayed for a few minutes, then went inside.
Aldus. Gil Villegas, 36th, said many asylum seekers first go to the Cook County Health Clinic in Belmont Cragin for checkups upon arrival in Chicago. They often traveled hundreds of miles to get to the Mexican border before arriving in the country, he said.
They are cared for in border towns, but that care must continue when they come to Chicago, he said.
Housing and caring for the thousands of arriving migrants is a lot of work for the city, he noted, praising Chicago’s care for families and singles.
The city has never had to deal with a wave of newcomers like this, Ald said. Felix Cardona, 31st. If aldermen do not continue to monitor the flow of migrants, he said, the situation will spin out of control.
We must all work together to solve this humanitarian problem. Were all working on it in addition to doing our alderman duties, Cardona said.
Sigcho-Lopez said he was aware city officials said Chicago shelters were at capacity. He wondered why the city hadn’t made more robust plans to anticipate the arrival of more migrants after the winter wave of asylum seekers waned.
They can’t say, these problems couldn’t have been foreseen, he said.
The alderman of Pilsen said residents of his community had been trying for months to come up with proposals to house migrants in the area. The neighborhood is better equipped to accommodate migrants due to its many bilingual services, he said.
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But the mayor’s office has not worked with his office or the city councils’ Latino caucus to house the migrants, he said.
To my surprise, the administration continues to push for areas where it continues to receive backlash, he said, adding that he had heard that some areas where migrants are housed are not consulted. or prepared for arrivals.
Many migrant shelters almost look like detention centers, Sigcho-Lopez said. Migrants need schools, mental health services and bilingual support, he added.
He called on the city to better coordinate with neighborhood leaders as it places migrants in shelters and for the state to provide more funding for the response.
This administration is not solving that problem with a comprehensive plan, Sigcho-Lopez said. Just reacted.
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