For some Chicagoans, the city’s decision to help the migrants is a “slap in the face.”
Residents of a Chicago neighborhood are upset that Mayor Lori Lightfoot has decided to turn a decommissioned elementary school into a refuge for migrants.
The facility at 6420 S. University Ave. in Woodlawn, originally Wadsworth Elementary School, has been empty for months and has been a target of Lightfoot’s administration for housing refugees and migrants.
On Thursday morning, a group of people from Chicago’s Woodlawn neighborhood assembled to demand that their city prioritize the needs of its citizens over those of recent immigrants.
“The community feels insulted, they feel as if they were not included, and they need answers now,” resident Jennifer Maddox told Fox 32.
Residents of Chicago’s Woodlawn area claim they were not given adequate notice or information about the migrant shelter’s location or opening date.
Carlos Prince Gilbert, a business owner in Woodlawn, told Fox 32, “I’m here because I’m concerned, I live here, and we need to know what the plan is.”
Locals have described the news as “a smack in the face,” claiming that the city has more severe problems to solve, such as the recent crime epidemic in Chicago, the housing crisis, and the growing cost of living.
“We don’t need outsiders coming in and sapping what few resources we have. We are exhausted, Ms. Lightfoot. “Resident Erica shared her story with Fox 32.
Residents are now pressing their government for answers, wondering if the migrants who will be relocated will undergo background checks and if the city would offer on-site police enforcement.
“We’re now working hard to make Woodlawn a financially accessible, multi-class neighborhood for everybody. I’m all for assisting newcomers and everyone else, but I feel a responsibility to help my people first, “as Jeane Clark put it.
Opening day had been planned for this Friday, but Taylor’s office has announced that the move-in date has been delayed indefinitely.
Fox News Digital has yet to hear back from the office of Mayor Lori Lightfoot.
Since Texas governor Greg Abbott began transporting asylum seekers by bus to Democratic strongholds on August 31, about 4,000 people have arrived in Chicago to protest current immigration policy at the federal level. Lightfoot had already been to the nation’s capital to gain support from President Biden for her city’s efforts to deal with the influx of migrants.