City shares plans to house migrants at Wadsworth Elementary School with neighbors

CHICAGO — Chicago officials said they’re running out of space to house people coming from the southern border.

On Thursday, WGN learned a new group of migrants is being housed at Northerly Island Visitor’s Center.

The city said it’s providing shelter to just under 4,000 migrants and it’s running out of space.

A community meeting is being held in Woodlawn to loop neighbors into one of those plans while migrants are staying in temporary shelters elsewhere.

A worker at the visitor center told WGN the center is closed until further notice because it’s being used as a shelter.

The Chicago Sun-Times reports 15 migrants, mostly from Venezuela, are being housed at the center until Friday.

The mayor’s office confirmed the report in a statement.

“As the City of Chicago continues to respond to this humanitarian crisis and with shelter space being at capacity it is out of necessity that we are using this site as a temporary shelter until other arrangements can be made with our local and community partners,” the statement read.

Another arrangement in the works is the plan to house the migrants at the shuttered Wadsworth Elementary School in Woodlawn.

The shelter was supposed to open last week, but was paused because neighbors criticized city leaders because they said they didn’t get a voice in the decision.

20th Ward Ald. Jeanette Taylor and a representative from the mayor’s office are hosting the meeting with neighbors to provide updates.