More migrants arriving in Chicago by train after City Council's recent bus ordinance
CHICAGO (CBS) -- More asylum seekers are making their way to Chicago. Over the weekend more than 100 people arrived in the suburbs on buses before taking trains to the city - many to the Ogilvie Transportation Center.
Officials in those suburbs say they were given no heads-up.
As CBS 2's Darius Johnson reported, a total of three unscheduled buses arrived over the weekend. At this time more than 14,000 migrants are residing in 27 city shelters, and more than 300 are awaiting placement.
Saturday morning Fox River Grove says 38 asylum seekers got off a bus at the Fox River Grove Metra station. They were then provided tickets to get to Chicago.
Saturday night just after 9 p.m., a bus arrived in Elmhurst with 58 asylum seekers. Every person on board had Metra tickets and took a 9:13 p.m. train to the Ogilvie Transportation Center.
Elmhurst police say a second bus arrived shortly after with 33 more asylum seekers. They too had Metra tickets and also boarded an 11:15 p.m. train to Chicago.
Earlier this month, the Chicago City Council passed an ordinance approving tougher penalties and fines if they don't get a heads-up about buses. that resulted in 96 citations and one bus being impounded.
Since then, there have been more instances of migrants being dropped off in other cities over the weekend as well.
Last week, Aurora and Kankakee both received unscheduled buses with asylum seekers. to prevent this from happening again the city of Aurora passed a similar ordinance to Chicgao - now requiring companies to notify them at least five days before a bus shows up and provided a detailed plan for the migrants as they arrive.
Just last month, Gov. JB Pritzker announced an additional $160 million to aid with the ongoing crisis. Over the weekend the state announced that money will be used to pay for hotel rooms for 200 migrants. They will then be moved to a CVS in Little Village that is being transformed into a shelter that is set to be completed by the end of January.
