Colorado Gov. Jared Polis has pledged to stop busing migrants to Chicago after Mayor Lori Lightfoot sent a letter, warning that the city has no additional room to accommodate more arrivals. NBC 5’s Karen Aguilar reports.
Colorado Gov. Jared Polis has pledged to stop busing migrants to Chicago after Mayor Lori Lightfoot sent a letter, warning that the city has no additional room to accommodate more arrivals.
Meanwhile, groups are calling on officials to figure out where the migrants who've already arrived in Chicago will be housed.
In Woodlawn, neighbors are upset they didn't have more of a say in the city's plans to house migrants at the former Wadsworth Elementary School.
"I am frustrated that they are putting this here, and I hope to God that they are good people," said residents Luis Cardona.
Those plans were delayed, but Sunday morning, state and local officials called out Lightfoot, who led the effort to open the building for migrants.
"I was not a part of the conversation when I should have been, but most importantly, they should’ve brought the community to the table," said Ald. Jeanette Taylor, who represents the city's 20th Ward.
In response, Mayor Lightfoot said Chicago is a "welcoming city committed to receiving asylum seekers with dignity and respect.."
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Then, on Saturday, she and New York City Mayor Eric Adams sent a letter to Polis, asking that he stop sending migrants to both cities, explaining shelters are overcrowded.
The Salvation Army told NBC 5 in an email that migrants now have to go elsewhere.
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"As the money is running out they are kicking out immigrant families with kids even from shelters," said Ald. Byron Sigcho Lopez, who represents Pilsen, which calls itself a "community of immigrants," according to the Pilsen Alliance.
The Archdiocese of Chicago said there are other possible housing options, such as its adopt a family program for parishes.
"The parish would be on for providing the housing which would be local housing that the parish would pay for or would be funded," said Rev. Larry Dowling, pastor of St. Agatha Catholic Church in North Lawndale.
Lightfoot indicated in her letter that since August 2022 nearly 4,000 migrants have arrived in Chicago.
Mary May, a spokesperson for the city's Office of Emergency Management and Communications, said 97 migrants arrived by bus in Chicago as recently as last Saturday.
After receiving the letter from both mayors, Polis promised not to send anymore migrants, saying he had a "productive conversation" with Lightfoot and Adams.
