Chicago suburb OKs emergency declaration after churches take in asylum seekers
OAK PARK, Ill. (CBS) – The Village of Oak Park is lending a helping hand for the migrant crisis in Chicago, agreeing Thursday night to house even more people.
The Oak Park Village Board on Thursday evening approved a measure to offer more support – to shelter asylum seekers as the weather gets colder. More churches in Oak Park are also heeding the call to action.
As CBS 2's Marybel González reported, 102 migrants were taken in on Halloween night Tuesday by the Good Shepherd Lutheran Church, at 611 Randolph St. in Oak Park. Amid unseasonable cold and snow, they were brought to the church on an emergency and temporary basis from the Austin (15th) District Chicago Police station, at 5701 W. Madison St. in the South Austin neighborhood – just three blocks from the boundary with Oak Park.
CBS 2 has also learned another church in Oak Park has taken in about 20 people. Pastors in the village said they need funding to provide portable showers, laundry services and even mental health services for the new arrivals.
On Thursday, the Oak Park Village Board declared an emergency disaster resolution to ensure the migrants can stay longer.
"We are rising to the occasion to do what we can for human beings in a crisis moment," said Oak Park Village Board President Vicki Scaman.
The board voted unanimously to allocate $300,000 in response to the migrant crisis. Much of that will be used to provide language interpreters and medical services to the migrants already there.
Half of those funds will come from the village, the other half from grant money.
Although passed unanimously, the measure was met with concerns among board members – including how it would impact the village budget.
"I raised this concern at the previous meeting as well about deploying local taxpayer dollars to solve a crisis - that we don't have any ability to solve a problem of that magnitude," said Oak Park Village Trustee Ravi Parakkat.
The board previously met Monday to allocate funds for asylum seekers, but some members said they weren't prepared to receive the migrants just two days later.
"For community organizers bring immigrants into the community, that feels like an ambush," Parakkat said.
"It's not a surprise that they showed up here," said Village Trustee Chibuike Enyia. "This is something that we saw happening and needed to brace ourselves for, and I'm hoping that people understand that this is feet away from us."
As part of the measure, Oak Park police will be providing extra patrolling.
The emergency declaration is temporary. The board will meet again on Dec. 4 to decide what's next.
For now, they are asking people to hold off on dropping off donations.
