Chicago has spent nearly a million dollars to build a migrant camp on a toxic site, as the city continues to deal with a massive influx of asylum seekers and officials are now seizing incoming buses.
Official records from ABC 7 show the city spent more than $985,000 on the closed migrant camp on a site in Brighton Park — despite warnings that the site was not safe and outcry from locals, including a lawsuit.
The nearly $1 million bill isn't much compared to the total projected cost of the camp, which was largely funded by the state government under a $125 million contract with a private contractor.
The state has allocated $65 million for the tent camp and permanent structures at a site in the Little Village neighborhood. Together they would house 2,200 migrants.
But the state intervened on December 5 and put an end to the controversial project over environmental problems on the former industrial estate.
Workers set up a tent frame as they begin construction on Chicago's first government-run migrant tent camp in the Brighton Park neighborhood
As Chicago deals with the migrant crisis, officials have begun seizing buses that arrive without prior approval. On Tuesday, several migrant buses were turned away from the Chicago suburb of Cicero, seen above
Mayor Brandon Johnson claimed no taxpayer money was lost at the camp because the parcel “has been assessed and further prepared for future use.”
Governor J.B. Pritzker claimed that the company knew that “it was possible that the environmental report would not allow completion of the shelter.”
“They understood that and were willing to take on that liability through the state contract,” the Democrat said.
It comes as desperate officials in Chicago voted Wednesday to allow the city to seize buses that drop off migrants without prior permission or outside designated times and zones.
The first 'rogue' bus from Texas was seized the same night after attempting to drop off 49 migrants.
Those who violate the revised rules will now also be fined $3,000, plus towing and storage fees.
Residents protested in Brighton Park against the proposed migrant camp to accommodate the influx of migrants
Mayor Brandon Johnson claimed that no taxpayer money has been lost at the camp because the parcel has been “assessed and further prepared for future use.”
On Tuesday, several migrant buses were turned away from Cicero and Rosement near Chicago after officials in Cicero approved a $750 fine per immigrant dropped off on the street.
Police reportedly let the migrants off the buses on Tuesday if someone was waiting for them, but threatened to seize the bus and arrest the driver because he would endanger the passengers if he let them off, Mayor Brad said Stephens of Rosemont.
“It's wrong to put people on the streets who have nowhere to go,” Cicero spokesman Ray Hanania said. 'We believe that every community should do this to prevent this. They need to force the state to come up with a better plan for the homeless.”
There are currently more than 13,000 migrants in Chicago's shelter system, and the city has spent more than $250 million this year to combat the crisis.
That's not much compared to the $4 billion the New York City government spent. The mayors of Chicago, Denver, Houston, Los Angeles and New York have urged more federal aid to deal with the surge of asylum seekers.
Migrants arrive in Democratic-run cities on buses funded by the Republican governors of Texas and Florida. Critics initially dismissed the effort as a political stunt, but more than a year later, cities are struggling to cope with the influx and their resources are dwindling.
Asylum seekers sleep in the lobby of Chicago's District 5 police station
Hundreds of asylum seekers stayed at Chicago's O'Hare International Airport
Chicago has used commercial space, hotels and field houses in the park district as shelters once migrants were moved from police stations and O'Hare International Airport.
In November, Gov. JB Pritzker announced that Illinois will provide an additional $160 million to help resettle migrants arriving in Chicago, including $65 million for the failed “winterized” temporary shelter on the lot.
Illinois has already spent or committed more than $638 million to address the humanitarian asylum seeker crisis. The additional resources will come from the Illinois Department of Human Services. Chicago is responsible for housing newcomers and has also spent hundreds of millions of dollars housing them.
Pritzker said the state has now stepped in because the city is moving too slowly. Chicago has come under scrutiny from immigrant rights groups, local leaders and residents for its handling of the crisis, which relied heavily on volunteers.
'The city uses its own methodological process. And it's not happening fast enough,” Pritzker said at a news conference at a statehouse in Chicago. “We are intervening here to help and speed up this process.”
Mayor Brandon Johnson, who took office in May, has called it an inherited problem and the city is working to address it. Earlier this week, he announced new limits on how long migrants can stay in city-run shelters and said more resources would come from the state and county.
About 2,500 men, women and children are awaiting placement in city-run shelters and sleeping inside or outside police stations or at O'Hare International Airport, the city said.
Johnson announced plans to limit stays in the shelter to 60 days. He did not provide details on what would happen if people did not have more permanent housing available within that time frame.