More migrants taken by train to Chicago after arriving in suburbs on 'rogue' bus
CHICAGO (CBS) -- Mexican immigration officials have started clearing tents along the Rio Grande River – just as U.S. officials met with Mexican President Andrés Manuel López Obrador to discuss the border crisis.
Migrants are now crossing the U.S. border in record numbers and Congress has been unable to reach a consensus on funding border security.
U.S. officials say they are working with Mexico to limit the number of people trying to come in.
Meanwhile in the Chicago area, more asylum seekers arrived in the suburbs Thursday and were brought to the city by train.
CBS 2 was there when a group of about a dozen people arrived in Chicago by Metra train from west suburban Glen Ellyn. As CBS 2's Marybel González reported, they were dropped off there by buses circumventing the city's rules on arrivals.
About a dozen men, women, and children were on the rogue bus. Such buses drop off asylum seekers in the suburbs – so as to avoid rules under which buses can be impounded if their operators fail to provide prior notice or follow rules for dropping off migrants in Chicago.
The migrants who took the Metra train to Chicago from Glen Ellyn told police officers and Chicago Office of Emergency Management and Communications representatives that they had come from Texas.
Nearly all those arriving Thursday night were unprepared for the cold. Some were wearing short sleeves and flip-flops, and the children and babies were covered only in a sheet.
From the Ogilvie Transportation Center in the West Loop where the Metra train let them off, the migrants got onto a yellow bus. The next stop is some sort of shelter.
On Thursday, Ald. Brian Hopkins (2nd) weighed in on how he believes the migrant crisis is affecting the city of Chicago.
"We're seeing communities destabilized. We're seeing an influx of new residents who simply don't have a place to reside," Hopkins said on CNN. "The impact of the local shelters is having a detrimental effect on the quality of life for local residents. We're seeing crime go up, property values go down. It's creating a political crisis – as well as stress between communities – and it's simply unsustainable."
Hopkins said the city cannot handle anymore arrivals and is not equipped to accommodate them.
As buses continue to arrive daily, Hopkins is among those calling for federal aid.
"Now, we're spending $300 million of our own funds - that's about 5 percent of our federal municipal budget - to address a problem that didn't even exist a year and a half ago," Hopkins said on CNN. "Where has the federal government been?"
Right now, there are nearly 15,000 people staying in 27 shelters across the city.
Hopkins' comments, and the latest arrival, came just a day after Mayor Brandon Johnson was joined in a virtual meeting by New York City Mayor Eric Adams and Denver Mayor Mike Johnston – and all issued a plea for more help from the federal government to deal with the migrant crisis.
"Without significant intervention from the federal government, this mission will not be sustained," Johnson said Wednesday.
We did reach out to Glen Ellyn police to ask about the so-called rogue bus. They said a bus registered to the State of Texas did stop in their town, but it was not clear who was on the bus.
We also learned Thursday night of a separate unscheduled bus dropping off migrant passengers in the village of Lombard. Some were picked up by friends and relatives, while the remaining ones were sent to Chicago.