Illinois EPA Shuts Down Construction of Chicago Mayor’s Unpopular ‘Tent City’ for Illegal Aliens

Citizens of Chicago’s Brighton Park are celebrating after the Illinois Environmental Protection Agency (IEPA) shut down “progressive” Mayor Brandon Johnson’s (D) construction of his “tent city” for illegal aliens over concerns that there are toxic chemicals in the soil on the site.

Residents of the neighborhood in which Johnson summarily decided to put his migrant tent city were never onboard with the plans, and there have been constant protests outside the site.

Protesters rally as work progresses on Chicago’s first government-run tent encampment for migrants at a lot in the Brighton Park neighborhood on November 29, 2023. (E. Jason Wambsgans/Chicago Tribune/Tribune News Service via Getty Images)

The protests have been vehement about opposing the plan, so much so that in October, when 12th Ward Alderwoman Julia Ramirez arrived at the site during one gathering of upset residents, she felt so unsafe that the Chicago Police had to whisk her away from the angry protesters.

With the lesson learned that her constituents were very unhappy with Johnson’s tent city plans, Ramirez disavowed the migrant housing construction that Johnson started without having any community meetings or involving Ramirez in the planning stages.

Protesters walk down West 38th Street during a march in Chicago’s Brighton Park neighborhood on November 10, 2023, against a proposed migrant camp at 38th and California. (Trent Sprague/Chicago Tribune/Tribune News Service via Getty Images)

Johnson clearly understood that his autocratic decision to place the tent city in Brighton Park was unpopular. The truth in that was seen when WFLD-TV set up a camera to record the construction going on at the site, but as soon as the TV crew started recording, construction workers quickly fanned out and began covering the safety fencing with a black screen so no one could look in and see what was going on there.

Johnson also came under fire for securing the construction and maintenance of the tent city with a whopping $29 million contract with Aegis Defense Services under its subsidiary, GardaWorld Federal Services.

Workers erect a tent frame as they start building Chicago’s first government-run tent encampment for migrants in the Brighton Park neighborhood on November 29, 2023. (Antonio Perez/Chicago Tribune/Tribune News Service via Getty Images)

But Johnson’s lightning-quick moves to secure funding and begin construction ultimately became his undoing on the project.

At the end of November, city hall released an environmental study on the nearly seven-acre vacant lot Johnson had picked for the migrant housing project that showed levels of toxic chemicals that exceeded the IEPA’s requirements. But Johnson went full speed ahead with construction anyway, under the assumption that removing six inches of topsoil (which was removed to level the grounds for construction) and adding a gravel bed was enough to allay the threat of toxins in the soil.

However, Johnson neglected to clear any of this with the IEPA. And now the state agency has finally noticed the mayor’s refusal to follow procedure. The IEPA, for instance, determined that there was “insufficient soil sampling and remediation” of the soil.

Signs protesting the placement of a migrant camp in Chicago’s Brighton Park neighborhood on December 1, 2023, are posted on a fence at the site near 38th Street and California Avenue. (Trent Sprague/Chicago Tribune/Tribune News Service via Getty Images)

The governor’s office said in a press release:

The remediations implemented thus far do not satisfy IEPA standards and are insufficient. At a minimum, an expanded engineered barrier between contaminated soil and human exposure would need to be installed to address exposure concerns. Further investigation might also identify additional contamination that would require additional remediation.

Now things have gone further off the rails for Johnson’s plans, as Illinois Democrat Gov. J.B. Pritzker officially halted any more work on the mayor’s tent city.

The state initially put a temporary hold on the construction on the site pending further testing by the IEPA. But that temporary hold has been made more stringent, as Pritzker announced Tuesday that construction will be halted entirely.

Signs protesting the construction of a government-run tent encampment for migrants are mounted on December 4, 2023, in the Brighton Park neighborhood of Chicago. (AP Photo/Erin Hooley)

“My administration is committed to keeping asylum seekers safe as we work to help them achieve independence,” Pritzker said in a statement, according to WBBM-TV.

He continued:

We will not proceed with housing families on a site where serious environmental concerns are still present. My administration remains committed to a data-driven plan to improve the asylum seeker response and we will continue to coordinate with the City of Chicago as we work to expand available shelter through winter.

It is unclear if the state has put a permanent end to Johnson’s plans to build a tent city on the Brighton Park site. As of Tuesday, it seems that the state is only saying that Johnson may be able to follow through on his plans if he satisfies the IEPA. But the governor’s office did say it is too late to finish the construction before winter and is now looking to help Chicago’s city hall find other housing solutions for the season.

Regardless, after Pritzker announced that the construction would be halted, many residents of Brighton Park were seen celebrating the victory.

The celebration may be premature, but at least the tent city plan is not going forward right now.

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