A bus was parked outside Piotrowski Park in Chicago's Little Village neighborhood on Saturday afternoon as migrants staying at the park's field house were relocated to a nearby shelter.
“I am not against anyone because I am also an immigrant,” said Little Village resident Rogelio Diaz. “If the city is helping them, it is very good.”
Migrants started moving out of the park and the Leone Boathouse in Rogers Park on Friday.
“We need to do this in a holistic way,” said Ald. Michael Rodriguez, who represents Chicago's 22nd Ward. “But Piotrowski Park and other parks need to come back to community use at this point.”
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Piotrowski Park's field house opened as a temporary shelter for migrant families in May.
The city of Chicago previously announced plans to decompress the remaining park facilities in the coming weeks. Those additional emergency shelter sites are Gage Park, Broadway Armory and Brands Park.
Around 738 migrants have been staying at the park facilities across the city.
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“Catholic Charities and New Life Centers have been amazing at supporting our migrants to get into more permanent housing and they will continue to do that,” said Rodriguez. “Because of those effort and because of the decrease of new arrivals—we’re able to decompress sites right now.”
As of Saturday morning, 10,136 migrants were staying in 23 shelters across the city. Additionally, 103 migrants were waiting to be placed in shelters, and two additional buses were expected to arrive at some point during the day.
One man staying at the temporary shelter in Gage Park told NBC 5 and Telemundo Chicago that the city planned to move him out in less than two weeks.
“Well, by the eighth of April, we have to leave everything from the shelter. We still don’t know where they are going to send us,” said Carlos Moreno, who is from Venezuela.
While his future remains uncertain, city leaders said they’re doing their best to address the situation.
“Look the federal government need to step up,” Rodriguez said. “We need real comprehensive immigration reform. We need real investments from the federal government.”
Migrants staying at Piotrowski Park were moved to the shelter at 26th Street and Pulaski Road. As for the field house, the park district said it will assess the conditions inside and make any necessary repairs and maintenance before reopening it to the public.
A reopening date had yet to be announced as of Saturday afternoon.
