'Slap in the face': South Shore residents outraged over migrant housing plan

The Chicago Mayor's Office is preparing to discuss plans to house migrants at the old South Shore High School.

It's a proposal that is causing some stir within the community.

The public forum was held at the South Shore International College Prep Thursday night and it was a packed house that strongly opposed the idea of migrants being housed in their neighborhood.

"I am just outraged! I’m outraged and I don’t understand why our community was chosen?" said one resident during the forum.

City representatives told the crowd that the old South Shore High School would not be a shelter, but would be one of three respite centers for the migrants to temporarily sleep, eat and take a shower. They would start with about 250 people taking up the building’s first floor.

This is a way for the city to get the current 300 migrants out of the police stations, where they’ve been sleeping on floors and not having much to eat.

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"While this does cause a crisis for Chicago, this does not constitute a crisis for the south shore community," said Alderman Michelle Harris of the 8th ward.

Before the meeting, a small group held a protest outside of the school demanding the energy put into the migrant issue…be put into their neighborhoods.

"It is a slap in the face that we as citizens of the United States of America do not have the resources and support but you're gonna bring people who are not citizens here in our community in our buildings that we pay taxes for that you took away from us?" said Natasha Dunn. "That is completely unacceptable. We are in a humanitarian crisis right now. So Black people in Chicago are bleeding on the streets!"

Mayor-elect Brandon Johnson was also asked about the migrant crisis.

"We have a responsibility to make sure that families that are seeking love and support in Chicago and in Illinois, that they are not just welcome but serviced," said Johnson.