Lawsuit aims to stop migrants from moving into old Chicago high school
lawsuit filed today. A temporary restraining order is an effort by South Shore residents to reclaim this old high school before the city tries to transform it into a migrant respite site. We have been red land Jim Crow pushed out enough South Shore neighbors filing a lawsuit trying to block the city of Chicago from moving migrants into the old South Shore High School. The attorney representing the community believes the city and Chicago public schools would be in violation of a lease by moving forward with this plan. The lease is a contract, a legal document and they're going outside the terms of the legal document. Number one, number two, it's a zoning issue that this is not zoned for residential housing. Last Thursday, hundreds of residents attended a city led community forum where members of mayor Lightfoot's administration were supposed to give a presentation but were interrupted by angry outbursts.
The city says between 250 to 500 migrants would be housed at South Shore High School and it would staff Chicago police at that location around the clock. Why not Pilsen, Belmont, Craig and Logan Square, Little Village, South Chicago, South Deering or Hedgewich communities that have a supportive cultural infrastructure. The city says it must identify more respite sites to relieve police stations where some 500 migrants are currently living. With title 42 now expiring, Chicago is preparing for a mass influx with hundreds more expected over the next several weeks. I feel like as Latinos, we really care about family and I think it's really important for the community to come together. A new shelter just opened in Pilsen in a vacant warehouse. 70 migrants are currently staying there.
Juan Aguirre with the National Equity Institute teamed up with Alderman Ray Lopez and others to give these people a place to stay instead of sleeping at the 12th police district. This is not about the migrants. This is about the entire city of Chicago ignoring our community and this school belongs to us. In South Shore residents say they wanted this shuttered high school that most recently served as a police academy to become a community or youth center and say they are not giving up their fight. We are strong. We're not going anywhere. We're not going to lie down and allow this to happen.
We reached out to the mayor's office and Chicago public schools today for comment on this lawsuit, but have not yet heard back. We also asked the city if South Shore High School is still in fact on the table as a potential respite site, but that question was not answered either. Live along the lakefront, Dana Rebic, WGN News. Thanks, Dana.
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