2023-12-04 23:12:02
SPRINGFIELD, Ill. (AP) — The Illinois government on Monday suspended construction of a temporary camp in Chicago to house migrants over the winter as the state examines removing soil contaminants at the former industrial site. .
The review, which a spokesman for Gov. JB Pritzker said would not take long, comes as hundreds of migrants who were sent by Texas to the state in the last year continue to live in or in front of Chicago police stations or at the airport. busiest in the city.
The city released a study Friday from a Chicago consultancy, Terracon, that detailed the discovery and removal of sections of soil from the site in the Brighton Park neighborhood that contained higher-than-expected levels of mercury.
“Soil with mercury levels was identified at one location and was properly removed and disposed of off-site at a landfill,” Mayor Brandon Johnson’s office said in a statement. “With limited soil removal and barrier placement and maintenance, the site is safe for temporary residential use,” he added.
The Illinois Environmental Protection Agency will review the evidence, said Jordan Abudayyeh, Pritzker’s spokesman. The agency spoke with Terracon on Monday to discuss the work the company did at the site to determine whether it was safe to temporarily house migrants in winterized tents, Abudayyeh said, adding that he expects a very clear decision. soon.
The state allocated up to $65 million for the encampment in Brighton Park and for permanent structures at a site in the Little Village neighborhood. Together, they will house 2,200 migrants.
Some Birghton Park residents have protested the plan for weeks, saying the zoning is inadequate and the land is heavily contaminated.
The mayors of Chicago, Denver, Houston, Los Angeles and New York have pushed for more federal aid to deal with the surge in asylum-seeker arrivals. Migrants have arrived in Democratic-run cities on buses financed by the Republican governors of Texas and Florida. Critics had initially said sending migrants was a political maneuver, but more than a year later, cities are struggling to cope with the high influx and their resources are running out.
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