2 Woodlawn residents block bus as migrants move into temporary shelter at former Wadsworth Elementary School
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Migrants began to move into a former school-turned-shelter Thursday in the Woodlawn neighborhood despite continued resistance from some nearby residents.
Even after several community meetings with representatives from Mayor Lori Lightfoot’s administration, Woodlawn residents took a strong stand against the migrant shelter set up inside the former Wadsworth Elementary School.
As shelter staff began to arrive early afternoon, two male residents wearing yellow vests attempted to block a CTA bus carrying migrants from entering the parking lot of the school.
“We’re not working with the city with this; they didn’t work with us,” Andre Smith yelled at police at the scene.
Smith and Luis Cardona said they are both residents of Woodlawn and are angry that the city moved forward with the plan despite community opposition.
“We just want fairness,” said Smith, who refused to move and said he was willing to get arrested. Smith is running for alderman of the 20th Ward against incumbent Jeanette Taylor.
Despite the opposition, the city began to settle about 250 migrants at the school Thursday, according to an email from Lightfoot’s Office of Community Engagement.
About 100 men and women were moved into Wadsworth on Thursday afternoon, a city spokesman said. The individuals were relocated from other facilities due to capacity levels. More migrants are expected at the site.
As the day went by, some asylum-seekers entered the school guided by staff wearing light jackets. Some carried bags and others had luggage. Few walked out to see the neighborhood.
The Wadsworth shelter is part of the city’s response to the thousands of migrants who have arrived in Chicago on more than 100 buses from Texas and Colorado since August. More than 5,000 migrants have arrived in the city and nearly 2,000 are under the city’s migrant shelter system.
In January, officials reported the shelters were at capacity but the city continues to see an average of 10 new arrivals per day, according to the Department of Family and Support Services. The shelter was set to open last month but was delayed after pushback from Woodlawn residents.
The Woodlawn residents who oppose the transformation of the neighborhood’s shuttered Wadsworth Elementary School into temporary housing for migrants who were bused to Chicago have said their already struggling community cannot take on another influx of people in need.
“While I’ll love to help immigrants and everybody else, I’ll like to help my own first,” said longtime Woodlawn resident Jean Clark in early January.
Taylor said her office and residents were initially kept in the dark about the future of the school and the city’s plan to convert it into temporary housing. She added that the opposition from the neighborhood should not be seen as anti-immigrant sentiment but rather as residents feeling disrespected by the city’s plan to repurpose a school that the community had fought to keep open.
Residents also argued that the predominantly Black neighborhood does not have the resources to ensure the well-being of the migrants because few people speak Spanish in the area and there are no immigrant organizations in the area that can help them get established.
During a community meeting Saturday, Brandie Knazze, commissioner of the Department of Family and Support Services, responded to concerns raised by residents. She said no resources were diverted from the community or other programs to help the migrants.
“This is a state of emergency,” she said. “We’re trying to make sure that residents are treated with dignity and respect and that they have a safe place to stay while they figure out their next destination.”
Kerwin Spratt, a longtime resident who was driving by the school, said he didn’t agree with the city’s decision because of “unfair allocation of resources.”
“They’re going to provide three meals a day and a computer lab. Many schools out here don’t have that,” Spratt said. “The senior home — nobody’s giving them three meals a day.”
Jennie Newsom, who lives at the Kenneth Campbell Apartments for seniors across the street from Wadsworth, agreed with her neighbors and added that the former school would not be a good home for the migrants.
“You put them here with no compassion, no empathy,” she said. “There isn’t any store around here where these people can actually go to. They don’t have anyone in this area that speaks Spanish.”
Taylor echoed the concerns of her constituents, saying “the community made it clear that they weren’t comfortable with (the shelter) because (city officials) couldn’t answer any of their questions.”
“This is dictatorship, not democracy,” Taylor said in a phone interview.
Though she expects backlash from her constituents, she also said her office will continue to have conversations with the community on how to cope with the tension and on how to tend to the migrants by collecting donations at local churches.
“While this was imposed on us, they always step up, show up and show out, and so I know that’s what my community will do,” Taylor said. “But politically, this is a slap to the face.”
In a statement, Taylor said her office will host a community meeting Feb. 16 “to discuss WITH the community how we can welcome our new neighbors to Woodlawn and demand resources for longtime community residents.”
“Too often, the City of Chicago has pitted Black and brown communities against each other,” she said in the statement. “Mayor Lightfoot’s administration has done just that through their lack of transparency and unwillingness to address community demands. I want my community to be respected and supported with resources after decades of racist disinvestment, AND I want our city to be a real sanctuary for those in search of a better life. We can do both.”
The shelter will have 24/7 security at all entrances provided by the city, and the Chicago Police Department is implementing a community safety plan, which includes regular visits to the shelter.
Residents of the shelter will receive and sign a copy of the shelter’s rules and expectations upon moving in, the city said. Rules include signing in and out when entering or exiting the shelter, abiding by an 11 p.m. curfew, not allowing visitors and not using drugs or alcohol on the property.
Police Cmdr. Roderick Watson of the 3rd District will host a discussion on community safety at 10 a.m. Friday.
