Chicago migrant crisis: Mayor Johnson addresses shelter plans for new arrivals amid winter storm

CHICAGO (WLS) -- Mayor Brandon Johnson addressed the migrant crisis again Friday and what his administration is doing to try and keep asylum seekers safe.

The city is preparing for dangerously cold temperatures as a major winter storm moves through the Chicago area.

Many new arrivals come into the city only wearing gym shoes, shorts, t-shirts or just a hoodie. They enter thrpugh the first point of entry...the South Loop "landing zone," are hit by the brutal Chicago weather.

As rain, snow and soon to be frigid temperatures bear down, there are now less than 150 people living on CTA warming buses.

"As far as the landing zone is concerned, it was never designed to be a shelter," Mayor Brandon Johnson said.

However, for many migrants, it has become a shelter. Some, specifically single men, have been living and sleeping on buses for a few days with limited meals and no access showers.

Johnson spoke about the migrant crisis Friday at his first press conference in three weeks.

"Is the bus situation acceptable? It's a temporary situation, it's certainly not acceptable to send buses to the City of Chicago, but we are meeting the moment," Johnson said.

READ MORE | 100 migrants move into Little Village shelter; over 200 await shelter at South Loop 'landing zone'

Texas Governor Greg Abbott has been sending hundreds of buses and planes to Chicago.

Governor JB Pritzker sent a letter to Abbott Friday, hoping to appeal to his humanity. In part, Pritzker wrote, "Your callousness, sending buses and planes full of migrants in this weather, is now life threatening to every one of the arrivals."

In the meantime, the harsh weather is putting the city's 60-day migrant shelter eviction policy on hold.

"Right now we have paused it through the 22nd to understand the cold weather conditions and what will come next," said Commissioner Brandie Knazze with the Deptartment of Family and Support Services.

The first group of migrants were supposed to leave shelters next Tuesday.

"We are not evicting new arrivals out in the cold this winter, our mission is to live up to our values as we welcome new arrivals," Johnson said.

The mayor is also considering meeting with surrounding suburbs to discuss the possibility of setting up systems for them to temporarily house small groups of migrants.