Clik here to view.
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Nearly a thousand coming this month to Holiday Inn
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By Tim Hadac
The Pritzker Administration is converting a vacant hotel in the Midway area to a shelter expected to house as many as 950 migrants.
The action is occurring quickly, with migrants expected to move in this month.
Clik here to view.
Governor JB Pritzker
In a press release posted by the Illinois Department of Human Services, the Pritzker Administration did not name the hotel “due to public safety and privacy considerations,” but the Greater Southwest News-Herald has learned it is the Holiday Inn at the northwest corner of Ford City, 7353 S. Cicero.
Last week, workers were seen on a cherry picker, pulling furniture out of fourth-floor rooms at the back of the 54-year-old hotel. At the front desk, a Holiday Inn staffer reportedly confirmed that the hotel will soon be a migrant shelter.
The Holiday Inn shelter is one of two new migrant shelters announced by IDHS. The other is in Hyde Park.
In the IDHS press release, Pritzker said, “In Illinois, we’re implementing our comprehensive data-driven plan to improve our response to the ongoing humanitarian crisis and amplify the effectiveness of State, County, and City investments. The additional temporary shelters will ensure that shelter capacity and wraparound services remain accessible to asylum seeker families as they transition out of our system of care and on to independence.”
Clik here to view.
Workers use a cherry-picker to help remove furniture from a fourth-floor room at the back of the Holiday Inn. –Greater Southwest News-Herald photo by Tim Hadac
As news of the new migrant shelter broke, Southwest Side elected officials quickly worked to put distance between themselves and Pritzker’s decision.
“We were informed by press release that the Illinois Department of Human Services plans to move forward with their plans to operate a state-run migrant shelter in our districts,” read a statement issued jointly by State Senator Mike Porfirio (D-11) and State Rep. Angelica “Angie” Guerrero-Cuellar (D-22nd). “Without sufficient information on how the state plans to protect the safety of the shelter and the surrounding community, we cannot support this plan. Our local 8th Chicago Police District is already stretched thin and will be challenged to support a shelter of 950 migrants. Opening a shelter in July does not allow for proper planning or ensure that our concerns are met. Local residents have had no say in this plan, and we will not ignore their valid concerns about safety and utilizing local resources.”
Thirteenth Ward Ald. Marty Quinn, who in recent years has been consistent in publicly asserting that the city does not have the financial resources to care for a massive influx of migrants, reportedly blasted a text message to residents of his ward.
“There is NO migrant shelter planned for the 13th Ward,” the text read. “Gov. Pritzker announced a shelter in the 18th Ward. I have been clear that Chicago cannot afford to safely house migrants.”
While the Holiday Inn is technically in the West Lawn neighborhood and years ago was in the 13th Ward, in 2024 the motel now lies within 18.
Eighteenth Ward Ald. Derrick G. Curtis—like the other Southwest Side elected officials—treated the news like a political hot potato.
“We received information via a press release that the Illinois DHS has moved forward with plans to open a migrant shelter that will be in the 18th Ward, close to Midway,” Curtis wrote in a June 27 letter to constituents. “We have received many inquiries since then ranging from community safety, resident safety and other issues that stand to test the capacity of other community city services.
“In addition, our residents have not been given a space to voice their input, their concerns and the negative impact this hasty action may have caused,” Curtis continued. “We believe this project should be stopped until their concerns are adequately addressed regarding this issue. Our state representative and I are now in communication with the Governor’s office concerning this matter. As always, I stand with our community and will keep you updated while we sort through this issue.”
Locals not pleased
Reaction on both sides of Cicero Avenue appeared almost universally negative earlier this week, judging by shoppers at Ford City, as well as Ford City West.
“This is crazy,” said West Lawn resident Jose de la Cruz. “Why these politicians keep ramming these migrants down our throats is something I don’t understand. My family just moved here from Brighton Park, where we went through that whole conflict over migrants at 38th and California. Now we have to fight again?”
Scottsdale resident Mercedes Fernandez said she hopes “Pritzker doesn’t try to bus the migrant kids to our schools south of 77th Street. We have enough problems as it is. Bus them north into West Lawn or west into Burbank. We’d like to help, but we can’t.”
Burbank homeowner John Radcliff predicted that residents west of Cicero Avenue “will start running to Home Depot to buy security cameras, locks and chains.”
Burbank resident Myra Winslow said she doesn’t see the new development “as a big deal. Migrants have already been among us for months, living in some of the smaller motels in Bridgeview and Burbank. There’s been no outcry about that.”
One woman who works in Ford City and asked that her name not be disclosed, said she dreads the Holiday Inn plan.
“The mall is already suffering greatly from shoplifters, especially JC Penney,” she said. “Now, that’s not all migrants, but you pack a thousand migrants into a motel next door…I don’t know. We’re bracing ourselves for a wave of theft like we’ve never seen, and if JC Penney pulls out, the whole mall goes down the drain. Doesn’t Pritzker know that?”
Oak Lawn resident Paul Wystocki simply asked, ”Who’s going to pay for all this?”
In the IDHS press release, Pritzker said the two new shelters advance state government’s commitment to a joint funding plan with Cook County and the City of Chicago “to address the ongoing humanitarian crisis presented by the arrival of over 43,000 new arrivals from the U.S. southern border.”
Last November, Pritzker announced an additional $160 million in tax dollars to accommodate migrants–in addition to the $478 million that had already been earmarked by the state to support migrants over Fiscal Years 2023 and 2024.
The state-supported shelters will continue operations in Fiscal Year 2025 as part of the joint funding agreement between the City of Chicago and Cook County. State government is committed to investing $182 million more in FY25.