CHICAGO — McCormick Place and Navy Pier will not be turned into migrant shelters anytime soon, Mayor Lori Lightfoot said Tuesday.
Some alderpeople have suggested the sprawling Downtown tourist hubs could be used to temporarily shelter migrants, as the city’s shelters have filled up amid the growing crisis.
Lightfoot declared a state of emergency over the crisis Tuesday, citing concerns about the lack of housing for migrants — but she said Navy Pier and McCormick Place are not part of the solution.
“It doesn’t make any sense to shut down McCormick Place and Navy Pier, that are huge economic drivers in the city, that have conventions and meetings already booked out through next year, and I’m not sure why that was put on the table,” Lightfoot said at a news conference. “We can’t disrupt the flow of business at McCormick Place and Navy Pier to solve this challenge.”
Notably, McCormick Place was transformed into a “field hospital” in the early days of the COVID-19 pandemic, when officials worried hospitals could be overwhelmed. But it was barely used and was turned back into a convention hub.
The city has looked at large locations, including big-box stores, as places where migrants could stay, Lightfoot said. But a building isn’t appropriate as a shelter just because it’s large, Lightfoot said.
Instead, officials need places where migrants can stay 24/7 and that offer them showers, bathrooms and places for hot meals, Lightfoot said.
“We’re not just warehousing people,” she said. “We’re not gonna treat them in the same way that we’ve seen Gov. Abbott do, without any regard for their humanity.”
The city is trying to create respite centers and temporary shelters for migrants — but it can be challenging to find appropriate housing, Lightfoot said.
Lightfoot said the emergency declaration will free up funding and make it easier for city departments to respond to the crisis, and it could allow the city to use the National Guard for help.
Lightfoot also called on the federal government to provide more funding for the city to address the crisis and to approve work permits for migrants so they can get jobs and pay for their own housing.
More than 8,000 migrants have come to Chicago since August, many fleeing economically devastated nations like Venezuela and Colombia. Many have been bused to the city from Texas.
The migrant population had largely stabilized for several months — until recently, when many more began coming to Chicago again, Lightfoot said. But the city’s shelters are full and its resources sparse, which has led to migrants having to sleep on police station floors or at the airport.
Forty-eight more migrants arrived Tuesday in Chicago, and the city is seeing 100-200 new migrants per day, Lightfoot said. Chicago’s officials don’t expect the buses and planes from Texas to stop — and the crisis could worsen, with larger groups of migrants expected in the weeks ahead, she said.
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