CHICAGO (TND) — Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson will revisit plans to host migrants in a popular city park field house, representatives of his office told Austin Weekly News this week.
The city is reportedly weighing housing up to 200 migrants at Amundsen Park for six months. The park is located in Chicago's Austin neighborhood.
Alderman Chris Taliaferro (29th) was “blindsided,” WBBM reported, when he initially received word of the plans. The alderman had warned just one week prior that the city’s handling of its growing migrant crisis would cause tensions to rise between Black and Latino residents.
Taliaferro reportedly did not like the idea of moving all the park’s operations, including youth football games, to another location over a mile away.
After bringing his outrage to the Johnson’s attention, Taliaferro called a Tuesday meeting to discuss the plan with residents. He predicted the meeting would be full of “screaming,” he told The Chicago Sun Times.
Crowds packed into Amundsen Park’s field house and overflowed into its hallways, with more than 400 people decrying the plans, saying the city made them without consulting residents.
“I strongly objected to it and I object to it now,” Taliferro said at the meeting.
Others said they wanted to help migrants without sacrificing a piece of their community in the process.
“We do have empathy for migrants, but we have to take care of our community,” Austin resident Tasha Dudley said, according to Block Club Chicago. “My nephews come to this park and it’s just been taken away and there’s no plan. It’s like nobody is fighting for us.”
Local student-athletes dressed in football pads and helmets also made themselves heard, arguing that taking away their facility would interrupt their ongoing season.
“We’re not just a program, we’re a family. The city is doing something that could be entirely avoided,” Windy City Dolphins Youth Football League coach Brion Page said. “You’re just saying, ‘The hell with our kids.’ I do believe they need help, but you’re putting a problem into an area that already has problems.”
The removal of the park program, which hosts programs for youth to seniors, could lead to another teen takeover, Taliaferro reportedly said.
Last month, Chicago signed a nearly $30 million contract with a private security firm to relocate migrants staying in local police stations and airports to winterized tents.
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