Chicago is grappling with local backlash against moving homeless migrants into a new government-run tent encampment as temperatures drop and more migrants continue to arrive.

Hundreds of migrants are still sleeping on floors or in tents outside city police stations. Some who remained this week huddled near tents wearing parkas, knit hats and even ski goggles to cope with the cold weather and falling snow.

At the same time, dozens of protesters have been gathering daily near a construction site where one of two new shelters is being built in Chicago’s Brighton Park neighborhood. The shelters, funded by the state of Illinois and expected to open as soon as mid-December, will house up to 2,200 asylum seekers and cost $65 million to build.

Community members in Brighton Park are suing the city to try to stop construction, saying it violates Chicago zoning laws.

  • girlfreddy@lemmy.caOP
    31·
    1 year ago

    Yes I am because I’ve lived on the streets and couch-surfed while unhoused. I know what it’s like to be refused help when temps are well below zero and there’s nowhere to go.