Migrants moved out of all Chicago Park District shelters
CHICAGO (CBS) -- Hundreds of migrants were moved out of shelters at two more Chicago Park District facilities over the weekend, and city officials said all shelters that had been operating at park facilities have now been closed.
City officials confirmed migrants were moved out of the shelters at Gage Park in the Gage Park neighborhood and Brands Park in the Avondale neighborhood over the weekend, and those shelters have since been closed. As of April 5, 226 migrants had been living at the Gage Park shelter, and 90 had been staying at Brands Park.
Two weeks ago, the city moved nearly 200 migrants out of Piotrowski Park in Little Village and Leone Beach Park in Rogers Park.
Office of Emergency Management and Communications spokeswoman Mary May said migrants also have been moved out of Broadway Armory Park in Edgewater. It was not immediately clear when the Broadway Armory Park shelter was shut down.
All migrant shelters that had been opened at Park District sites have now been closed, according to May.
In late March, Mayor Brandon Johnson's office said asylum seekers living in fieldhouses at five Park District sites would be moved to other shelters to allow the park facilities to reopen to the public and resume normal programming in time for the summer.
Now that the migrant shelters at park sites have been closed, Park District officials will assess the facilities and conduct any repairs or other maintenance needed to resume normal operations. The mayor's office said it expects all five park district sites to be ready for a full slate of summer programming this year.
As of Monday morning, a total of 9,173 migrants were living in 18 active shelters in Chicago. Another 132 were awaiting placement in shelters – 130 of them at the city's landing zone, and two at Chicago police stations.
The number of migrants staying in city-run shelters has dropped significantly in recent months. At the beginning of the year, more than 14,700 migrants were living in 27 shelters in Chicago. However, city officials have said they expect the number of migrants arriving in Chicago to climb in coming months, ahead of the Democratic National Convention in August.
Texas Gov. Greg Abbott began sending buses and planes carrying migrants to Chicago and other sanctuary cities in August 2022 to protest the Biden administration's immigration policies. Since then, more than 39,000 asylum seekers have arrived in Chicago, though the vast majority are no longer living in city shelters, having either found permanent homes in the Chicago area, or moved on to other parts of the country.