City delays plan to move migrants into vacant school in Woodlawn
CHICAGO (CBS) -- Hundreds of asylum seekers will not move into an old school in Woodlawn on Monday as had been expected.
City leaders said they're delaying the move-in to hold another community meeting to answer questions.
A date for that meeting wasn't given. The plan is to move around 250 migrants into the shuttered Wadsworth Elementary School for up to two years.
City officials have said 24/7 security will be provided, and contracted officers will post up at every entrance. They will be tasked with indoor and outdoor monitoring.
In addition, Chicago Police will conduct checks on every shift.
Tempers flared earlier this month at a community meeting over the temporary shelter for asylum seekers. Many in the community are upset with what they see as a lack of transparency from the city over the plan to use Wadsworth as a shelter for migrants.
Many in the audience said they are not anti-migrant, but they are opposed to how the city has gone about making the plans.
City officials actually apologized to the crowd for not including them in conversations sooner – calling it an "oversight."
"We didn't think and talk to you first," said Chicago Department of Family and Support Services Commissioner Brandie V. Knazze.
Other city promises include outdoor lighting repairs, installation of Chicago Police POD cameras, biweekly updates bout security, and monthly community meetings.
"We will start with 250 individuals that we will place in the building," Knazze said.
CBS 2's Lauren Victory has been covering the drama since Oct. 24, when she learned of work being done inside the school. At the time, CBS 2 had learned the school was being prepped to become a shelter for migrants – but there had been no official announcement on why the work was happening.
City officials denied for weeks that they were planning to use the vacant school as a migrant shelter, but in December confirmed that was indeed the plan.
Ald. Jeanette Taylor (20th) also has expressed her concerns about the silence from City Hall. She has also said it doesn't make sense to house the migrants in Woodlawn, and has said other parts of her ward would be a better choice.
"They made a mistake," Taylor said in November. "They didn't count on me and my community saying it didn't make sense for it to go there."
Taylor has said, had she been told sooner about the plans, she would've suggested parts of her ward that are home to Latinx organizations and churches.
But by being in Woodlawn...
"They would be in a Black part of the ward where nobody speaks Spanish. Nobody could help them," Taylor said in October.
