Chicago residents have had enough!
They don’t want public spaces like parks used as temporary homes for migrants and are suing the city. South Shore activists Natasha Dunn and Jimmy Darnell Jones will appear before a judge on Monday.
They and some others filed the lawsuit against the city, Democratic mayor Brandon Johnson, and Chicago public schools in September. The activists claim that the usage of public buildings as temporary homes for migrants has become a nuisance.
They also accuse officials of violating codes as they struggle to find room to shelter asylum seekers. The court will bar Mayor Johnson from messing up park programs and violating zoning laws if they succeed. He must also reveal how much money the city spends on migrants.
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In the past, Johnson estimated Chicago would spend as much as $255 million on the migrant crisis in 2023. Over 24,000 migrants have arrived in Chicago since Texas Governor Greg Abbot sent buses in 2022. The purpose was to highlight what he terms the Democrat’s open-border policies.
According to Chicago State officials, roughly 700 new migrants enter the city weekly. As a result, the Windy City has used commercial space, including hotels and park district field houses, to shelter them.
Space is running out, and officials must work on future campsites. One will be winter-proof and available in a vacant lot in Brighton Park. A move that has outraged many. There have been protests to prevent the location’s use and claims the soil has become contaminated with toxic metals.
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In May, Dunn and Jones also filed a lawsuit to prevent the city from turning the former South Shore High School into a shelter for migrants. The suit eventually did not happen, and the city did not turn the school into housing for migrants even though a city contract gave the go-ahead.
Dunn and Jones are not the only ones calling for more stringent measures on the migrant crisis. The African-American community in the city has also denounced the use of public funds for migrants. Chicago is in charge of housing new arrivals and has already spent hundreds of millions trying to accommodate them.
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The amount will rise in the coming days as more funds are mobilized to solve the problem. The additional funds will come from the Illinois Department of Human Services. Already, the state has spent more than $638 million to address the crisis, but about $160 million is expected to come in.
Approximately 2,500 men, women, and children await placement at city-run shelters. In the meantime, they’ve been using police stations and the O’Hare International Airport as makeshift landing sites.
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