Migrant crisis ‘one of the most challenging’ problems facing Chicago’s new mayor, chief of staff says
Priority No. 1 for the new mayor is to find alternative space so asylum-seekers, including young families, no longer have to
sleep on the floors Chicago’s police district stations.
Some of the stations are so crowded with migrants, everyday Chicagoans can’t even make their way to the front desk to file a police report.
“Police Departments cannot be a place for asylum-seekers. We’re identifying some Park District [fieldhouses and facilities to use] in the immediate [future]. But that brings up other challenges. People rely on parks for entertaining their kids. Setting up programs and keeping them busy — especially in spring and summer,” Guidice said.
The $51 million in surplus funding the City Council’s Budget Committee has agreed to transfer to the migrant crisis will carry Johnson only through June.
“That’s another aspect of this very complicated situation. ... There’s no money set aside for something of this magnitude,” Guidice said.
“Short of a federal disaster declaration, there is no ability to tap into other funds.”
Rich Guidice, who spent nearly 20 years running the Office of Emergency Management and Communications, said he has never seen an emergency quite like the thousands of asylum-seekers who have poured into Chicago since September, with scores more on the way.
chicago.suntimes.com