Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson (D) said the city is looking at placing processed and released migrants into "winterized" tent camps to get them out of police stations and other temporary shelters.
The new plan is to cope with the huge strain migrants are having on the sanctuary city as the crisis at the U.S.-Mexico border continues because the Biden administration refuses to take concrete action to stop the historic flow of illegal immigration.
"We are moving with expediency because the weather is going to be shifting very soon. And so before inclement weather sets in, we full expect to have these base camps established," Johnson told ABC 7Chicago, noting they have gotten more bus loads of migrants within the past few weeks than all of last year combined.
The Chicago-Sun Times reports Johnson has yet to say where exactly the base camps will be located. The base camps will provide meals, recreational, and educational programming supplied by the city to reduce what he called the "exorbitant" costs now being paid to a private staffing agency.
"These families are coming to the city of Chicago … If we do not create an infrastructure where we’re able to support, and quite frankly, contain these individuals who have experienced a great deal of harm, individuals who are desperate — if we do not provide support for these individuals and these families, that type of desperation will lead to chaos,” Johnson added.
Residents have become increasingly frustrated over the lack of transparency when the city decides to shelter migrants in their neighborhoods, often finding out only days before people start moving in.
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