About 300 men are expected to be housed in Gage Park.
[Ads /]
Equipment was brought into St. Clare De Montefalco Church on Tuesday morning in preparation for a Tuesday night community meeting, where neighbors will learn more about the move.
Ald. Raymond Lopez said he plans to provide residents with more details of the city's plan to move migrants to a field house in Gage Park, which will become a respite center.
"The goal of this was to ensure that we have somewhere we could process these individuals when they arrived here. That has been part of the short-term strategy that has been missing from the very beginning," Lopez said.
Jesus Martinez has many concerns about the plan. The Gage Park resident was hoping to use the field house gym, but was turned away.
"What are they going to do all day? Are they going to contribute, or are they going or consume?" Martinez said.
RELATED: DACA 2023: On anniversary of Obama program, Chicago residents, lawmakers look for path forward
[Ads /]
To prepare for the migrants, park district programming has already been transferred to other facilities, including a new field house four blocks away.
Lopez said, by July 1, the center will temporarily house up to 300 single men, who are currently sleeping in area police stations.
"Regardless of what people's politics are on migration or asylum, this is not how Chicago treats people in a humane, faithful manner," he said. "The single men are where we have the most need. They are the ones who are in the police districts, and that's where we're going to process first and foremost and keep the ball rolling from there."
He said migrants will stay for a maximum of 90 days. The men will get health screenings and other support.
"And then, find them more permanent housing so we can continuously rotate individuals in and out of this location," Lopez said.
Lopez said summer camps at the field house have been suspended to accommodate the migrants, and families are being redirected to the new location nearby.
[Ads /]
"The Gage Park field house is one of the largest field houses in the city of Chicago. It's over 100 years old. It has separated areas for men and women, shower areas, a dining hall in the basement and other amenities that just simply just don't exist in other locations," he said.
Lopez said he volunteered his local field house, so the center would be safe, healthy and temporary for migrants before they move into more permanent housing.
"If we keep getting 50, 60, 100 individuals by the week, a shelter that we open today, that house is 300, will quickly become full, and will be inundated again. So we need all of Chicago to step up," he said.
As he welcomes migrants to his ward, Lopez said he wants to know exactly how the $51 million the city council approved for migrants through the end of June is being spent. Budget Committee Chair Ald. Jason Ervin said most of it is going to contractual staff who provide the services.
In the meantime, Lopez said the Gage Park field house will be open to migrants possibly through the end of the year. But, he said, as long as there's a need, they will remain open.
The public meeting at the church begins at 6 p.m.