Chicago community where 97% voted Biden react furiously after finding out 500 migrants are coming

Furious Chicago residents that overwhelmingly voted for President Biden during the last election have angrily spoken out against the hundreds of migrants being brought to the area that are knocking long-time residents off housing wait lists. 

The old South Shore High School on the city’s South Side is to act as a temporary holding space for up to 500 migrants and officials have not yet clarified for how long. 

Residents of the strongly Democratic suburb are speaking out after a lawsuit was filed claiming the school had not been zoned for residential use and that residents were not properly consulted of the plans. 

‘All of these resources that have not come to us now you want to overly compensate for people that have never lived here before. We need to be taken care of first and foremost before anything else happens!’ one woman demanded. 

‘Many of these migrants have been dumped without a plan in place to monitor and house them long term,’ explained another.

‘All of these resources that have not come to us now you want to overly compensate for people that have never lived here before. We need to be taken care of first and foremost before anything else happens!’ one woman demanded

‘Why would any leader put our black communities, already riddled with crime, at further risk by placing unvetted non-taxpayers steps away from our seniors, our children and our homes that we have worked so hard to secure?’ this furious resident demanded

‘Our communities are at war. They are violating our communities. We are asking and demanding to deal with issues like this,’ one woman said

‘Politically, to have over 500 people in our community would completely wipe out any interest we have,’ explained another residen

Residents are particularly upset over plans to house the migrants in the school, complaining about safety and a lack of consultation.

‘Why would any leader put our black communities, already riddled with crime, at further risk by placing unvetted non-taxpayers steps away from our seniors, our children and our homes that we have worked so hard to secure?’ another furious resident asked at a press conference.

‘Our communities are at war. They are violating our communities. We are asking and demanding to deal with issues like this,’ stated one woman.

‘Politically, to have over 500 people in our community would completely wipe out any interest we have,’ explained another.  

Earlier this month, residents packed into an auditorium and bombarded local officials with similar complaints.

‘How could you do that without consulting us?’ one resident said in response. 

‘Build the wall. Make a border,’ shouted another.

A five-year-old migrant girl from Venezuela plays in a Chicago playground 

 A migrant couple from Venezuela sit with their children on the playground at Brands Park in Chicago, Illinois

One local leader (pictured) told the crowd at a meeting on May 4 it would start by moving 250 to 500 migrants into the school

In recent weeks migrants have overwhelmed police station lobbies faster than the city has been able to open shelters. Pictured are migrants in a Chicago police station

Carlos Alvarado, Miguel Lopez and Diego Perez, who are from Venezuela and heading to Chicago, wait for a bus after being processed by the U.S. Border Patrol following crossing the border from Mexico on Wednesday

Nubia Willman, a City Hall official, was booed by the crowd as she attempted to defend the plans. 

‘What’s important is that we really establish this is humanitarian crisis, and we are here,’ she said.

‘While this crisis may constitute an emergency for the city of Chicago, it does not constitute an emergency for the South Shore community,’ Alderman Michelle A. Harris said.

The lawsuit came just days after Mayor Lori Lightfoot declared a state of emergency over the arrival migrants to Chicago, which she said had reached ‘breaking point’.

‘We don’t have any more space. I cannot emphasize that enough,’ said Lightfoot.

Lightfoot, who made history as the first black woman and first gay person to the lead city, served her last day in office on Friday. 

Mayor-elect Brandon Johnson will take over the running of the city on Monday.  

On Monday Texas Governor Greg Abbott told Lightfoot he would not stop bussing migrants from Texas north to Chicago.

Natasha Dunn, J. Darnell Jones and ‘South Shore neighbors’ are plaintiffs to the lawsuit filed in the county court against the city and Chicago Public Schools on Thursday, according to Block Club Chicago.

‘Members of the Black Community Collaborative, South Shore constituents and stakeholders are extremely dismayed by the city of Chicago’s inability to control and develop safe parameters around housing migrants that have been transported here from the border,’ said Dunn during a press conference on Thursday.

Attorney Frank Avila also spoke during the conference. ‘We want the refugees and asylum seekers and migrants to come in, but we have areas across the city where they can go. Not centralized in one community,’ he said.

‘There needs to be community participation and community input,’ Avila said.

‘If we’re talking about migrants and asylum seekers that came from violent nations, that came from war, that came from poverty, why are we putting them in an area where they can be further traumatized?’ 

A number of residents have said the migrants should be moved to a facility in the North Side – a sentiment echoed by Jones, a plaintiff on the suit.

‘Why not Pilsen, Belmont Cragin, Logan Square, Little Village, South Chicago, South Deering, or Hegewisch? Communities that have a supportive cultural infrastructure?’ said Jones.

Mayor Lori Lightfoot is pictured declaring a state of emergency on Tuesday over the arrival migrants to Chicago

Since August more than 8,000 have been bussed north into Chicago from the border. In recent weeks migrants have overwhelmed police station lobbies faster than the city has been able to open shelters. 

The declaration that the city is in a state of crisis comes as Lightfoot approaches the end of her tenure. On Monday the incoming mayor Brandon Johnson will be sworn in and inherit a problem Lightfoot herself said is likely to get worse.

Earlier in the month Lightfoot pleaded to Texas Governor Greg Abbott that he stop the transport of migrants north from Texas.

In the letter posted to Twitter on Sunday, Lightfoot urged Abbott to reconsider ‘this dangerous and inhumane action’.

She said she sympathized with the border towns in Texas dealing with the issue, but said it wouldn’t be resolved by passing on the responsibility to other cities.