Migrants in Chicago to temporarily be relocated to Wright College
CHICAGO (CBS) -- Hundreds of migrants who recently arrived in Chicago might soon have a new temporary place to stay -- Wright College on the city's Northwest Side.
"It's not a possibility; it's going to happen," said 38th Ward Ald. Nick Sposato.
Sposato said come June 1, up to 400 migrants will be temporarily relocated to Wright College. A police source said there were nearly 800 migrants at police stations across the city.
"It's not fair to the police. It's not fair to migrants," he said.
Sposato said he has been on the phone with the Office of Emergency Management and communications numerous times about moving asylum seekers into the community. They are supposed to leave Aug. 1.
"That's the one thing I find the most difficult to believe, that on Aug. 1, if they don't have a place to house these people, they're going to say, 'Sorry folks, you're on the street or you're going back to the police station,'" he said.
Last week Mayor Brandon Johnson first went to the Near West 12th District police station where asylum seekers have been sleeping on the floor for days. He then headed to Piotrowski Park in Little Village, a migrant respite center that has been filled or almost filled to capacity since opening Saturday.
Johnson said he has been briefed on the migrant issue, but on Tuesday he saw firsthand how the arrival of migrants is straining many city resources.
"It is clear that police stations and respite centers, that's not the goal," he said. "And so we have to make sure the work that is being done here is done with the true spirit of Chicago."
Sposato believes South Shore High School could be their permanent location after Aug. 1. Placing migrants in that location has been controversial in that community.
"We know what happened in South Shore, so we'll see," Sposato said.
Sposato will hold a community meeting on Tuesday at Wright College in the gymnasium, inviting residents from the 38th Ward to discuss the temporary housing situation for migrants.
And Wednesday City Council members will be asked to allocate $51 million in surplus funds to the migrant crisis.