Chicago residents raise concerns over planned tent shelter for immigrants

Emotions ran high Tuesday night in Chicago during an overflow community meeting in Brighton Park where residents turned out in droves to be heard on the city’s proposed plan to turn a neighborhood lot into a tent shelter housing as many as 2,000 non-citizen migrants in the Southwest Side neighborhood.

“The city should not do it like this,” Yuan Mo, who resides just steps from the proposed tent city at 38th Street and California Ave., told The Center Square. “We had no idea. We know about it because a news reporter came out and talked about it. Construction started, but we had no idea what was going on.”

One by one, residents took to the podium at Kelly High School to have their say on an issue that has gripped the community since word of the plan began to spread earlier this month.

“We have to have kindness, peace and not be against each other, because we are America, and we want to be treated good,” 92-year-old Esther Cardena told the crowd.

Cardena, who said she has called the neighborhood home for the last 35 years, added she feels her neighbors should have an open heart.

If the plan comes together, Deputy Mayor for Immigrant, Migrant and Refugee Rights Beatriz Ponce de Leon told residents it is not viewed as a long-term solution and during the time the camp would be operational, city officials are committed to doing all they can to make sure it has as little impact on the neighborhood as possible.

“This is not a Chicago issue. This is a national issue,” Ponce de Leon told the crowd, adding that no plan has been finalized for the 11-acre site that is still undergoing environmental assessment.

Mo made clear he has no doubt about where he thinks things are headed.

“When I first came here about 20 years ago, I could see that it was a rundown neighborhood, but we built up,” he said. “It’s safe, and much more family, and now you put a tent here. They say it’s temporary. It’s not going to be temporary because the migrants keep coming. Where are they going to put them? They already have a site here. It’s convenient.”

The camp is expected to initially host 500 migrants, composed of families with children, and eventually up to 2,000, de Leon said, adding the tents will be heated and air conditioned, and the site will be monitored around the clock by unarmed security. The camp will also feature dining halls, temperature controlled restrooms and shower facilities.

Since August 2022, nearly 20,000 migrants have arrived in the city with as many as 4,000 of them forced to sleep in police stations and at O’Hare Airport because of a lack of resources.

In stressing that he’s not against extending help to those in need, Mo added he’s convinced the way the city is doing things simply isn’t sustainable.

“I want them to work it out,” he added. “They’re going to send 16 buses here a week. Now what? You want to turn this into a chaos city? This is what’s going to happen. You’re already invading the police station. They’re going to be living on the street.”

Local Ald. Julia Ramirez told the crowd she too has been largely kept in the dark about the city’s plan, adding “the mayor’s administration has been in direct contact with the property owner of the site at 38th and California, without looping in my office.”