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* NBC 5 last Thursday morning…
While controversial migrant base camps in the Chicago neighborhoods of Amundsen Park and Brighton Park won’t move forward, a former Catholic school in Portage Park is set to become a migrant shelter, holding as many as 350 people. […]
Residents of Portage Park, however, are set to protest the move during a rally Thursday afternoon, citing a lack of transparency from the city, and saying they weren’t included in the process.
Video is here.
* NBC 5 Thursday afternoon…
Outside of the former St. Bartholomew Catholic School in Portage Park, a group of residents and community members shared their concerns and complaints with city leadership, now that the building could be slated to become a temporary migrant shelter.
“They have no clue what they are doing,” said Patrick Gibbons. “They have to take care of their own people before they take care of anyone on the outside.”
Residents said a lack of safety is their main issue with the plan.
“I really don’t feel safe with any new strangers walking around the neighborhood,” said Wally Prusko, a longtime resident. “I wish things wouldn’t go in this direction and I hope things can worked out.”
* But, as Block Club Chicago reported, aside from the news media, hardly anyone actually showed up…
A lightly attended protest outside the former Catholic school Thursday, organized by Belmont Cragin resident Patrick Gibbons, included denouncements of the shelter plans from a South Side pastor, a Republican candidate for a suburban congressional seat and a few Portage Park neighbors. Members of the press outnumbered the protesters.
At least Gibbons is finally in his own part of the city for a change. Another “protester,” Anthony Wilson, lives on the South Side.
Anyway, good on Block Club for not going out of its way to gin this up.
* OK, on to the weekly report. On Friday, the city said 30 buses had arrived during the previous week, but only 575 asylum-seekers were in staging areas, with 399 at police district stations and 176 at O’Hare Airport. That’s an overall drop of 44 percent from the week before, when 1,032 were in staging areas.
Two police district stations near St. Bartholomew were literally overrun with asylum-seekers a few weeks ago, with tents set up outside. Those folks have since been moved out, which may be why people in the neighborhood aren’t so concerned about the new shelter.
* More from Isabel…
* Tribune | Johnson administration begins filing lawsuits against operators of ‘rogue buses’ of migrants: The city has filed 55 lawsuits since it implemented new rules about when and where buses can arrive in mid-November, the Law Department said. The lawsuits address 77 total buses accused of violating the rules, and public records show at least some cases are seeking fines against the bus companies. … The mayor’s office is now seeking the ability to impound buses that don’t follow the rules and fine owners up to $3,000. Chicago police would write the citation, Jeffrey Levine, deputy corporation counsel for the city, told aldermen at a committee meeting Friday. The city could also cite companies by mail, if the bus information is captured on camera.
* CBS 2 | Chicago migrant crisis: Records shed light on contract for tents, city cracks down on buses: We are also keeping tabs on the environmental review for the second proposed migrant tent location in Morgan Park. Sources told us the review was supposed to be completed on Friday. Ald. Ronnie Mosley (21st), whose ward includes the area, told us he has not received anything yet.
* Crain’s | City moves to step up enforcement on bus companies bringing migrants: The city is adding impoundment to the list of penalties on private bus operators that don’t obey rules on where and when to drop off migrants they’re bringing to Chicago. The additional penalties were teased last month when Mayor Brandon Johnson announced new rules around how the city will care for asylum-seekers arriving here, including issuing 60-day exit notices to migrants living in city shelters.
* Tribune | Waiting in fear: A migrant mother struggles to find health care in Chicago: Migrants interviewed by the Tribune staying at city-run shelters and police stations say they are worried about their health and that of their children. Esperanza said health care was not an option for her in Venezuela. Hospitals were understaffed and treatment was too expensive, she said. “The operation I needed at Hospital Universitario in Maracaibo would have cost me $2,000. That just wasn’t feasible,” Esperanza said.
* WGN | St. Sabina Church helps migrants in Chicago with donations: Migrants have been coming to St. Sabina for quite some time now. The giveaway included things like teddy bears, bus cards, clothes and hygiene products. “We are spending somewhere between $12-15,000 a week on coats, cards, McDonalds,” Father Michael Pflegere said. He said the vast majority is from donations but as the group grows, more help is needed.
* ABC Chicago | Legal aid clinic helps Venezuelan migrants apply for temporary protected status, work authorization: “We don’t have a Venezuelan consulate, so if they don’t have a passport, it makes things even more complicated,” said immigration attorney Nubia Willman. Dozens of lawyers, law school students, and translators volunteered their time on Saturday to help the native Spanish speakers navigate the process, which includes filing out 31 pages of government forms, all in English.
* Chicago Defender | A Venezuelan Exodus: UIC Prof Explains What Helped Fuel Migrant Crisis: Nicole Jeanine Johnson: As this is a recipe for disaster, how have these factors contributed to the country’s mass exodus? Soledad Álvarez Velasco: So the fall of the oil prices in the global economy, commodities, sanctions and the internal collapse of its state has provoked this massive exodus. We haven’t witnessed any exodus of such magnitude in the region ever in the scope of its 14 years. Since 1999, up until the present, [nearly] 8 million Venezuelans have left their country.
posted by Rich Miller
Monday, Dec 11, 23 @ 9:17 am
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==included denouncements of the shelter plans from a South Side pastor==
How very Christian of him. Hatemonger pastors are the absolute worst kind.
Comment by Demoralized Monday, Dec 11, 23 @ 9:26 am
Wow, Big Government Socialists in Elk Grove Village.
Even Grandma, if she lives outside the country, has to be inspected by the guv’mint if she comes over to visit for Christmas.
Who’d a thunk in America?
Comment by Jerry Monday, Dec 11, 23 @ 9:37 am
– Members of the press outnumbered the protesters.–
Given the state of journalism, that’s saying something.
Comment by Michelle Flaherty Monday, Dec 11, 23 @ 9:38 am
oh, but they are now in the sights of the NWGOP land. now that the City has been told they have a problem with Aldermanic prerogative and affordable housing some see their control slipping away. the vocal anger of a few has always pushed the day.
Comment by Amalia Monday, Dec 11, 23 @ 9:43 am
Pretty sure Elk Grove’s ordinance will hit the extended family of middle class people who took overseas vacations more than it hits any immigrants.
Comment by Homebody Monday, Dec 11, 23 @ 9:45 am
===Esperanza said health care was not an option for her in Venezuela. Hospitals were understaffed and treatment was too expensive, she said. “The operation I needed at Hospital Universitario in Maracaibo would have cost me $2,000. That just wasn’t feasible,” Esperanza said.===
Depending on what operation she needs, it might be more expensive here, although the hospitals here might write it off as charity.
Comment by DuPage Monday, Dec 11, 23 @ 10:05 am
Let me get this straight, if I went to Canada or Cancun recently, and am now catching a flight out of O’Hare, I can’t stay at an Elk Grove Village hotel unless I come with an array of medical documentation from an infectious disease expert?
Exactly when did EGV become so concerned about public health? Because this is the same community that openly defied mask mandates during Covid.
https://www.fox32chicago.com/news/elk-grove-village-mayor-says-masks-are-optional-indoors-in-defiance-of-state-mandate
Comment by Leigh John-Ella Monday, Dec 11, 23 @ 10:19 am
==The ordinance says it is unlawful to rent or provide the occupancy of any public sleeping units to any person who has been outside the United States within the prior 12 months unless that person has documentation from a certified infectious disease physician that the person is not now or within the prior 60 days, diagnosed with a communicable disease. The ordinance mentions malaria and tuberculosis specifically, along with any other communicable disease. ==
So if I go to Canada and then want to stay in a hotel in Elk Grove within 60 days, I need to see a doctor and bring a doctor’s note. It seems like a phone call to Elk Grove for clarification is in order today.
Would I have to get tested every time I come back from Canada if I were to stay at a hotel in Elk Grove? What if I lie and say no? What are the penalties if I get caught? How recent does the testing need to be?
Will the hotels in Elk Grove Village be required to notify every traveler from outside the US that they need to be tested?
Do they realize how crazy this sounds?
Comment by OneMan Monday, Dec 11, 23 @ 10:29 am
= Anyway, good on Block Club for not going out of its way to gin this up. =
Block Club continuing to do Block Club things.
Comment by Dirty Red Monday, Dec 11, 23 @ 10:29 am
I recognize Gibbons’ face on Chicago TV before they put his name up. The reporters and TV crews have to know who he is by now and that he’s not just a local “resident” in every neighborhood they’re covering. Not just complacency by Chicago TV News…they seem to be going out of their way to drive a narrative here.
“I really don’t feel safe with any new strangers walking around the neighborhood,”
The Chicago conservative paradox: Chicago is dying because people are leaving, but we don’t want anyone new walking aroud in our neighborhoods.
Comment by NIU Grad Monday, Dec 11, 23 @ 10:33 am
I don’t like the Elk Grove ordinance, but every news report I’ve read has misrepresented its details.
The medical certificate is required only for those who are not “domiciled residents of the United States” and who have not “traveled to a country experiencing an outbreak of such contagious disease” within the prior thirty days.
That makes it even worse. It’s focused right on recent immigrants and refugees, with fewer likely unintended consequences.
Comment by walker Monday, Dec 11, 23 @ 10:41 am
“I don’t like the Elk Grove ordinance”
Seems like the Mayor is acting in a way he thinks reflects the will/wishes of the residents of the village.
“We feel this is the best approach, between migrants coming and others looking to change facilities into housing,” Johnson said, noting the proposed conversion of warehouses and other buildings into temporary shelters in Chicago. “This is the best way to protect the health, safety and welfare of our community.”
https://www.dailyherald.com/business/20231130/we-feel-this-is-the-best-approach-elk-grove-village-enacts-new-rules-to-prevent-migrant-stays
Comment by Donnie Elgin Monday, Dec 11, 23 @ 10:55 am
Two telling lines from the lead-in story.
=== They have no clue what they are doing ===
Of course they do. They are helping the homeless, the asylum seekers. The Church is doing what churches do best - housing and clothing and feeding the needy. I might ask, what are you doing besides ratting on government, but c’est la vie.
=== I really don’t feel safe with any new strangers walking around the neighborhood ===
Says it all. You do not want to offer temporary help to widows and orphans and asylum seekers, because you fear the weak.
NIMBY people are the ones who are clueless.
Comment by H-W Monday, Dec 11, 23 @ 10:55 am
===This is the best way to protect the health, safety and welfare of our community.”===
lol
Sure, Jan.
Comment by Rich Miller Monday, Dec 11, 23 @ 10:56 am
Walker, thanks for the detail that was not in the reports I read.
Are the hotel front desk staff the enforcers of this policy?
Comment by Leigh John-Ella Monday, Dec 11, 23 @ 11:10 am
“I really don’t feel safe with any new strangers walking around the neighborhood”
Then why ever leave the house? So many people every day in the neighborhood are strangers, passing through or stopping and doing their business.
Nothing like the migrant crisis and the most desperate fleeing oppression and seeking help to show American Christianity.
Comment by Grandson of Man Monday, Dec 11, 23 @ 11:23 am
“”Seems like the Mayor is acting in a way he thinks reflects the will/wishes of the residents of the village.”"
I don’t doubt the Mayor thinks that, Donnie.
I actually expected a broader solution from him because one high priority for his retail, restaurant, and industrial park business constituents right now, is a shortage of available labor. He’s usually very creative, with a wider perspective.
Comment by walker Monday, Dec 11, 23 @ 11:50 am
Props to Fr. Pfleger and St. Sabina for doing what everyone should be doing and helping the migrants.
I have never been a fan of Pfleger but the man is walking the talk along with his parish and good on them.
@Donnie Elgin- I bet you would have been a hoot during the great potato famine turing boats of starving immigrants back to Ireland or Italy or Eastern Europe to face almost certain death because people in your community wanted it that way. Merry Christmas.
Comment by JS Mill Monday, Dec 11, 23 @ 11:58 am
== Seems like the Mayor is acting in a way he thinks reflects the will/wishes of the residents of the village. ==
I suspect if you went to most towns, cities, villages, and unincorporated areas in most of the state the will of the people would be that no one convicted of a serious crime be allowed to stay within the confines of said town and a visitor to a hotel or as a tenant of an apartment building.
Really poor people be allowed to stay in rental properties utilizing funds that they did not earn themselves.
That 3 unrelated people under 23 be allowed to share a residence.
That’s the thing, to a degree, we are not allowed as citizens to decide who is worthy to occupy spaces near us. We try to do that with zoning laws, but there are limits. But this just seems like ‘let us figure out a way to keep foreigners we feel are ‘unclean’ from living near us by making it harder to do that’
It may be what the residents want, but that isn’t how this nation works.
Comment by OneMan Monday, Dec 11, 23 @ 2:16 pm