CHICAGO (WLS) — As more buses carrying migrants arrive in Chicago, city council members are preparing for a detailed briefing with Mayor Brandon Johnson about his specific plan to shelter them, sources said.
In an exclusive television interview with ABC7, Johnson revealed part of his plan to move migrants from police stations into what he calls “base camps” made up of giant tents.
“We are moving with expediency because the weather is going to be shifting very soon, so before inclement weather sets in, we fully expect to have these base camps established,” Johnson said.
He pointed to efforts to buy or repurpose multiple facilities before the end of the year to address the ongoing need to shelter new arrivals.
“We have had more buses show up in the last 15 weeks than all of last year combined; I don’t think we should continue to look at this as a crisis. This is our reality,” Johnson said.
The few city council members who said they’re familiar with the plan explained further.
“We know that the mayor is now proposing and will enact tents, large tents, that will be able to house these individuals. That will have HVAC units. We need dignified spaces for migrants,” said 22nd Ward Ald. Michael Rodriguez.
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“I had heard from some members of the administration that they have been looking at military-grade tents and like setting up base camps as a way to have an alternative to having police station be where folks are currently living and sleeping,” said 40th Ward Ald. Andre Vasquez.
The base camps would provide food, cots and health services and would be the first stop for incoming migrants. It is not known where those tents would be.
So far, the city has spent tens of millions of dollars on asylum seekers, some alderpeople plan to ask where the money will come from for the tents and services and how the federal government plans to help.
Baltazar Enriquez with the Little Village Community Council has been working very closely with asylum-seekers to get them work and permanent housing. He said his group has shared several more practical locations for the city to house incoming migrants.
“To us, this is another FEMA concentration camp. These camps have been a failure at the border. No rules, no real type of security… The city of Chicago has brutal winters, very hard winds, and I know these tents will be destroyed within months,” Enriquez said. “Where is all this money going? We are spending tax payers’ money, and me, as a tax payer, I am very concerned that the mayor doesn’t want to talk to the community. The mayor has this plan that doesn’t want to give out the way they are going to run the camps. All they are telling us is that they are tents.”
The mayor responded to criticism about devoting resources to new arrivals, while an estimated 64,000 Chicagoans are without permanent housing.
“I know what it’s like to have a relative, a family member who is suffering,” Johnson said.
Johnson shared his personal understanding of watching a loved one struggle with addiction and homelessness.
“When you don’t have the right resources or the right interventions, the type of hardship and turmoil that causes on families, I know that pain,” he said.
He is pushing for a real estate transfer tax devoting more resources to the unhoused and mental health services.
And, he said he is pushing for sacrifices to be made by all levels of government.
“If we do not act in this moment, if we do not live out our values and our principles as a city, the type of chaos that will break out as a result of not having any action will cost the city much more,” Johnson said.