City Council members on Wednesday decried the lawlessness — including sex trafficking and drug dealing — they say is occurring outside Chicago’s migrant shelters and demanded a crackdown before the behavior devolves into violence.
Education Committee Chair Ald. Jeanette Taylor (20th) represents the impoverished Woodlawn neighborhood where 584 migrants are staying in the former Wadsworth Elementary School.
Downtown Ald. Brendan Reilly (42nd) represents Streeterville, location of the Inn of Chicago, home to the city’s largest shelter, with 1,468 migrants.
Although the economic circumstances could not be more different, both alderpersons described similarly chaotic and criminal conditions outside their shelters during a meeting of the Council’s Committee on Immigrant and Refugee Rights.
“There was a gentleman who said he pulled out a gun on a migrant. And while I don’t agree with him doing that, that’s what’s gonna happen if we don’t have a real plan for what happens with people” who break the law, Taylor said.
During a three-hour hearing, Taylor accused top mayoral aides of presenting a ridiculously rosy picture that doesn’t match the ugly conditions on the ground.
“Tell the issue about the people who are outside threatening [residents]. Tell them about the sex trafficking that’s happening. The drug dealing that’s happening,” she said.
“They’re outside smoking weed. They’re outside having whole parties right in front of the senior building. And the police are scared. Let’s be honest. You got two [CPD] cars sittin’ out there who do nothing until I drive up and say, ‘Hey, they can’t stand there.’”
Taylor was reduced to tears at the May 31 Council meeting explaining how torn she was supporting $51 million in emergency funding for the migrant crisis while the needs of African Americans continue to be ignored. Her tears of anger intensified when a handful of protesters in the Council chambers branded her a “traitor” and ”sellout” for that vote.
Wednesday, Taylor demanded a special Council meeting on the city’s plan to combat the lawlessness, joined by Reilly, Committee Chair Ald. Andre Vasquez (40th) and Ald. Maria Hadden (49th).
Reilly said there is “no rule of law,” especially after 10 p.m., in the 100 block of East Ohio, site of the Inn of Chicago. A constituent sent him photos showing “60 kids, many of them with guns in their waistbands, consuming alcohol and marijuana on the public right-of-way unchecked,” he said.
“There are a lot of guns on the two blocks around this site, suddenly. ... We are having people call 911 to report this. We’re having them call 911 for the consumption of narcotics. Not just smoking marijuana, but heroin and crack. … I’m also hearing about teenagers allegedly being sex-trafficked in the curb cut. It’s unconscionable,” Reilly said.
Ald. Ray Lopez (15th), volunteered Gage Park field house in his ward as a shelter site, and 277 migrants are now there. He sent a letter to Mayor Brandon Johnson Wednesday voicing concerns similar to those of his colleagues, including “drugs sale and usage, male & female prostitution and associated human trafficking” and “gang recruitment.” Area residents are “reaching a boiling point,” he wrote.
During a three-hour hearing on the migrant crisis, Ald. Jeanette Taylor accused top mayoral aides of portraying a ridiculously rosy picture that doesn’t match the ugly conditions on the ground.
chicago.suntimes.com
they gonna deport these muthafukkas??
JESUS CHRIST
