A Chicago alderwoman has written a letter to her constituents distancing herself from Democrat Mayor Brandon Johnson’s plans to erect a “tent city” for illegal border crossers in her district.
Twelfth District Ald. Julia Ramirez is now telling her community that she had no part in the planning of the tent city, nor was she consulted about its placement in the 12th District. She also knocked down rumors that she was the one who suggested that the tent city could be placed in a large empty lot in Brighton Park.
“When Mayor Johnson’s office announced plans for winterized base camps in September and asked alderpeople to submit locations in our wards that could support these temporary shelters, my office did not submit any locations,” Ramirez told her constituents in her October 22 letter, the Chicago Tribune reported. “The mayor’s administration has been in direct contact with the property owner of the site at 38th & California, without looping in my office.”
The alderwoman’s letter comes only days after she was mobbed by furious residents when she visited the location of the proposed tent city on October 19.
Ramirez claimed that she went to the site to “engage” with the protesters, but things got so heated that she was quickly surrounded by angry people carrying signs in opposition to the migrant facility, causing the Chicago Police Department to wade in and extricate her from among the protesters.
Migrant protest#Chicago never voted for a sanctuary city
— 💎Peace & Love Eternal💎 (@sampeaceamerica) October 19, 2023
Ald. Ramirez Monday:
"….be open minded and not buy into the fearmongering & false information spread by right-wing, anti-immigrant voices who wish to divide our city."
Too late The Truth is outpic.twitter.com/3dnTMddzX5
In her letter, Ramirez went on to say that neither Johnson nor anyone at City Hall consulted her about the tent city plans:
Additionally, to my frustration, the mayor’s office did not consult with me or my office about their current plans to construct a temporary shelter — meant to house 1,500 people — at 38th & California, nor did they inform my office that they would be sending work crews to conduct a site assessment last week.
Johnson announced the tent city plans early in September and claimed that he was looking to stash about 1,600 illegals in his camp.
Regardless, Johnson is moving forward with the construction of the massive shelter, and crews have been cutting down trees and brush, removing debris, and leveling the ground in preparation for the “winterized tents” to be constructed.
However, it appears that most of the city’s aldermen are not overly excited about having such facilities in their districts.
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The Tribune noted that City Hall said 75 percent of the city’s 50 aldermen never responded when Johnson asked them to submit possible sites for his proposed tent city.
Ramirez was obviously one of those recalcitrant alderpeople, and she is now claiming that her focus is on her actual constituents.
“As your representative in the City Council, my number one priority is finding workable solutions to our problems that allow us all to feel safe in our community and live peacefully alongside each other,” she exclaimed in her letter.
She left it unsaid, but her letter and actions seem to show that having a migrant tent city in her ward is not a desirable “workable solution.”
Ramirez did reiterate that migrants sleeping on the floors of Chicago police stations is a “humanitarian crisis,” but instead of demanding city resources for the problem, she appealed to the federal government for more funding to house and care for illegal aliens.
WATCH: Immigrants Make Camp, Scatter Belongings and Trash in Police Stations Around Chicago
Rebecca Brannon, Independent Photojournalist/LOCAL NEWS X /TMXJohnson’s efforts to create migrant shelters have been met with stiff resistance in nearly every case, especially since many of the facilities were planned and opened without notifying or involving the communities in which they were placed.
Most recently, residents of the mostly Hispanic Pilsen neighborhood organized a protest at a town hall meeting on October 3.
A poll taken in October found that most Chicagoans want to end the “sanctuary city” policies in the wake of the flood of illegals entering the city.
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