'How dare you?': Chicago residents call out Johnson over proposed migrant housing at fieldhouse

CHICAGO - In recent weeks, there has been an influx of migrants arriving on Chicago’s doorstep, and city officials warn that they could start receiving up to 25 buses from the Texas border each day.

As the situation unfolds, tensions are escalating across the city – with community members grappling with the complexities of the migrant crisis.

On Tuesday afternoon, a protest took place outside the Amundsen Park Fieldhouse in the city’s Galewood neighborhood, where residents voiced their concerns about a plan to transform the space into a migrant shelter.

"We ain’t having that. No! You want to tell us what to do in our park? You cannot do that! We pay our money," said Linda Johnson, community member.

Critics argue that turning the site into a migrant sanctuary will disrupt crucial park programming and youth activities for residents – programs that took years to build.

"You want to take the little scraps of resources we have and put us at the bottom of the barrel? That’s not fair!" one woman said. "A lot of these young boys, they don’t have fathers so a lot of these coaches, they are their fathers. They spend part of their weekend here along with during the week, that keeps them in a safe place, it gives them mentorship, it shows them discipline."

A community meeting held inside the fieldhouse Tuesday evening was standing room only and quickly became contentious and rowdy.

Within seconds of city officials taking the floor, community members in attendance – anxious to speak their minds – took center stage.

Still unclear when approximately 200 migrants might be moving into the facility, 29th Ward Alderman Chris Taliaferro, who says he is "strongly opposed" to the plan, tried to settle tensions.

Still, residents became heated – calling for more transparency from City Hall.

"What I want to say is, Mayor Brandon Johnson, we are disappointed in you. This is the community that supported you, how dare you," said Cata Truss, community member.

FOX 32 Chicago reached out to Mayor Johnson’s office for his response to the community's reaction but did not immediately hear back.

Simultaneously, migrant families were scheduled to move into a new, temporary city-run shelter in Pilsen on Tuesday, located in the 2200 block of South Halsted.

An intense community meeting took place Monday, where Pilsen residents expressed differing opinions on whether the site should serve as a shelter.

Meanwhile, 2nd Ward Alderman Brian Hopkins is calling for the closure of the migrant shelter located at the Inn of Chicago downtown. Positioned at the corner of Ohio Street and Saint Clair Street – just steps away from the Magnificent Mile – Hopkins says it has led to a series of troubling issues in the neighborhood.

"This year alone, we've had over 300 calls for that address for all sorts of things like disturbances, fighting, assault and battery, narcotics, and the Chicago Police Department has declared that area a narcotics hot zone due to the number of illegal narcotics sales," said Hopkins. "Some people are trafficking in drugs there, we're not saying everyone who does that is a migrant, that would be an unfair generalization, certainly some are, but that area has really been a magnet for criminal activity."

At the same time, Governor J.B. Pritzker is urging the Biden administration to address the migrant crisis. He penned a letter to the president on Monday, emphasizing that the influx of migrants in Illinois has become "untenable."

Illinois has already allocated $330 million to tackle the migrant crisis, and Pritzker believes that additional resources can be provided by the White House and Congress to assist blue states targeted by Texas Governor Greg Abbott's bussing campaign.

The governor is also calling for a focus on long-term solutions instead of political maneuvering.

"You don't hear him telling Republicans that they need to go to work in Washington on behalf of reform. Instead, he is just sending busloads across the country and causing chaos really," Pritzker said.

Pritzker says he's been in regular discussions with the Biden administration since the first bus arrived in Chicago in August 2022, seeking effective ways to address the ongoing challenges posed by the migrant crisis.