Chicago’s Migrant Housing Plan Would Boot Youth Football Team, Angry Residents Say

Chicago’s plan to house illegal migrants in a field house at a local park would kick out a youth football team, according to angry residents.

On Monday, Alderman Chris Taliaferro said he was informed that the city plans to house about 200 migrants in the Amundsen Park field house in northwest Chicago.

The migrants will arrive by Saturday, Taliaferro said, and football and baseball games would be moved to other areas, Block Club Chicago reported.

Taliaferro said he immediately informed city officials that he “strongly opposed the proposal and that this would adversely impact the neighborhood and park programming.”

The coach of the Windy City Dolphins Youth Football League, which uses the park, objected to the migrant housing plan as well.

“We’re not just a program, we’re a family. The city is doing something that could be entirely avoided,” 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 Windy City Dolphins also announced a “protest to save Amundsen park” on the team’s Instagram stories on Thursday.

On Tuesday, more than 400 residents reportedly showed up at a heated community meeting about the migrant housing plan, including players on a youth football team, videos posted on social media show.

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These “Chicago” KIDS from the Amundsen Park youth football program in the Austin neighborhood will be kicked out of their neighborhood field house so it can become a migrant shelter on Monday. Over 600 residents met last night here to oppose this. @bennyjohnson @IllinoisReview pic.twitter.com/w4y3pQRPK3

— Mark Weyermuller (@publicpolicyman) October 4, 2023

“We do have empathy for migrants, but we have to take care of our community,” local resident Tasha Dudley said. “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.”

Taliaferro said the migrant housing proposal “disregards democracy” since residents did not have a chance to discuss the issue before the decision was made. The proposal disregards “public safety” issues as well, he said.

Chicago has been scrambling to respond to a migrant crisis before the cold winter months arrive.

More than 17,000 illegal migrants have arrived in Chicago since August of last year, a spokesperson for Chicago’s Office of Emergency Management and Communications said this week.

The country’s third-largest city has already spent at least $250 million on the issue.

Last month, Chicago signed a $29.4 million contract with a private security firm to build massive winterized camps for newly-arrived illegal migrants. The firm will be responsible for building, staffing, and operating the huge tents, which must be able to house between 250 and 1,400 migrants.

In the meantime, the city is sheltering hundreds of migrants at police stations and O’Hare International Airport.