Two Chicago residents will face a judge on Monday after they sued the city to stop the use of public spaces like parks and police stations to house migrants.
Migrant showdown in Chicago
South Shore activists Natasha Dunn, Jimmy Darnell Jones and others filed the lawsuit in September against the city, Democratic mayor Brandon Johnson and Chicago public schools.
The plaintiffs claim the use of public buildings to house migrants is a nuisance to the community and accuses officials of violating codes as they desperately search for room to shelter asylum seekers.
If the suit is successful, mayor Johnson would be prevented from disrupting park programs, violating zoning laws, and would have to fully disclose how much money the city is spending on migrants.
Johnson has previously estimated Chicago will spend roughly $255 million on the migrant crisis in 2023.
More than 24,000 migrants have arrived in the Windy City since Texas governor Greg Abbot began sending buses last year in an attempt to highlight what he calls Democrat’s open-border policies. Chicago State officials said roughly 700 new migrants arrive each week.
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The city has used commercial space, hotels, and park district fieldhouses as shelters once migrants are moved from police stations and the O’Hare International airport.
As space runs out, officials are working on future camp sites for migrants, including a ‘winterized’ one in a vacant lot in in Brighton Park; the proposed camp has sparked multiple protests from the area’s residents, who say they do not want the location disrupted. They also say the soil is contaminated with toxic metals.
Dunn and Jones also filed a lawsuit in May to stop the city from turning the former South Shore High School into a shelter for migrants.
That suit was dropped and the city never turned the school into housing for asylum seekers, despite a city contract to do so.
Earlier this month governor J.B. Pritzker announced Thursday that Illinois will funnel an additional $160 million to help migrants arriving in Chicago to resettle, including $65 million to help the city launch ‘winterized’ temporary shelter to avoid people sleeping outdoors in cold weather.
