The village of Oak Lawn will vote on an ordinance Tuesday night that would prevent bus operators from stopping and dropping off migrants in the village. It would also require bus companies to have a license to operate in the village.
"I can’t stress it enough. It’s for safety of the residents and safety of the migrants," said Oak Lawn 6th District Village Trustee Ralph Soch. "I mean it’s January. We see what the weather is like out there now. It’s not safe for 50 to 60 people to walk off a bus and have nowhere to go."
Oak Lawn joins a growing list of municipalities trying to take additional measures to address the migrant crisis. Back in December, the village also amended its hotel occupancy over concerns of extended stays for migrants.
"There’s procedure set up in the city of Chicago for intake and how to process, and we’re not set up to do that," said Soch.
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At least 14 other communities have similar bus regulation ordinances either proposed or pending. Texas Gov. Greg Abbott said Tuesday afternoon in a Facebook post that he will continue to send migrants to sanctuary cites like Chicago and said, "We will not back down on our efforts to secure the border."
"I think that we have to protect our borders, but we haven't done a good job of that yet," said Oak Lawn resident John Van Buren. "On the same hand I think there should be some sort of pathway toward legal immigration."
People who live and work in Oak Lawn said they simply don’t have the resources to support new arrivals.
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“It’s kinda sad, you know. You don’t want to be like no one is welcoming because it is America,” said Tanya Jones, who works in Oak Lawn.
More than 30,000 migrants have arrived in Chicago. The city said 14,000 of them staying in 27 shelters. Elected leaders said the burden should not fall on local municipalities across the Chicago area.
"This is a federal issue, should be handled at the federal level, should be federally funded, you know,” said village trustee Soch. "Making small towns in different municipalities try to deal with this, it’s not right, it’s not fair."
The village board meeting starts at 7:30 p.m. Village trustee Soch believes the ordinance will likely pass.
