Several Chicago police officers are accused of sexual misconduct involving underage migrant girls.
One of the officers is accused of impregnating a teenager, the Chicago Sun-Times reported. The sexual assaults allegedly occurred at the 10th District police station in North Lawndale, which until Friday was housing migrants in half of the lobby, according to ABC7 Chicago.
“These allegations are under investigation with CPD’s [Chicago Police Department] Bureau of Internal Affairs and the Civilian Office of Police Accountability,” a CPD spokesperson told the Times.
It is neither certain if the officers accused are still on the job nor if Cook County prosecutors are looking into the accusations.
The officers are from a West End station that was turned into temporary housing to accommodate the flood of migrants to the city, the New York Post pointed out. Since August 2022, 11,000 migrants have arrived in the Windy City, primarily at the direction of Texas Gov. Greg Abbott. Chicago has struggled with housing all of the migrants — turning to police stations, airports, and Wilbur Wright College.
Migrants outside of Sacred Heart Church in El Paso, Texas, on Sunday, Jan. 8, 2023. President Joe Biden was confronted at the airport in El Paso on Sunday by Texas Gov. Greg Abbott, who demanded in a hand-delivered letter that Biden act immediately to stop unauthorized immigration including by building more walls on the border (Paul Ratje/Bloomberg).
On her way out of office in May, then-Democrat Mayor Lori Lightfoot declared a state of emergency amidst the influx of migrants, CBS reported. At that time, the city was dealing with 8,000 migrants — the majority of which were from Venezuela.
Despite Chicago being a “welcoming city,” Lightfoot begged Abbott in a letter published in the Chicago Defender to “stop this inhumane and dangerous action” — referring to Abbott’s ongoing orders to bus migrants to “sanctuary cities,” including Chicago, New York City, and Denver.
Mayor Lori Lightfoot at a City Council meeting on July 20, 2022. (Armando L. Sanchez/Chicago Tribune/Tribune News Service via Getty Images)
“We simply have no more shelters, spaces, or resources to accommodate an increase of individuals at this level, with little coordination or care, that does not pose a risk to them or others,” Lightfoot wrote.
Recently, Mayor Brandon Johnson made plans to open five new shelters with a combined capacity of nearly 2,500.
