Tensions over Chicago's migrant crisis continue to rise following a City Council meeting, as 22 more buses of asylum-seeking migrants arrived in the city on Wednesday.
As city officials continue to clash on where to house the continually rising number of migrant arrivals, a community meeting in the city's South Shore neighborhood took the tone of several others across Chicago neighborhoods in recent weeks.
Two members of the South Shore community group that held the meeting took their displeasure with the situation a step further, filing an amended lawsuit against the city.
The suit alleges inhumane conditions for the housing of migrants in shelters and police stations, while demanding the use of public schools and park buildings for migrant housing stops.
"The first thing this lawsuit is about is for South Shore High School to reopen as a high school for this community," attorney Frank Avila said.
The lawsuit singles out the conditions migrants face at police stations, with Avila criticizing Johnson for utilizing them as shelters.
"You should not have people sleeping on police room floors when you spent $600 million. This is an outrageous amount of money and there needs to be an audit now," Avila said.
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One resident said that he hopes Chicago freezes its status as a "sanctuary city," the label that has led Texas Gov. Greg Abbott to send buses of asylum-seeking migrants to Chicago and several other American cities, including New York, Denver and Washington, D.C.
Mayor Brandon Johnson told reporters on Wednesday that he would travel to the southern border as part of a Chicago delegation, though offered no details on when such a trip would take place.
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Johnson added that a team with the U.S. Department of Homeland Security is currently in Chicago, assessing the severity of the ongoing crisis.
As of 8 a.m. on Thursday, nearly 10,000 residents are in city shelters, with another 3,167 migrants awaiting placement, according to Chicago's Office of Emergency Management and Communications.
