Chicago pauses proposed tent city for migrants amid contamination fears

This coverage is made possible through a partnership between Grist and WBEZ, the NPR station in Chicago.

In a former industrial neighborhood in Chicago’s Southwest Side, protest signs hang off a chain link fence, many of them with the same message: “This land is contaminated.” 

Welcome to Brighton Park, the proposed site of a winter tent camp for migrants, a controversial plan from Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson that has drawn opposition from both residential neighbors and environmental advocates. 

Construction is paused on the camp as the Illinois Environmental Protection Agency reviews a city-issued report released late last week detailing the contaminants found at the site and the efforts to clean them up, according to Jordan Abudeyyah, a spokesperson for Governor JB Pritzker.   

“They have some outstanding questions for the consultants,” said Abudeyyah to Grist over email. 

Arsenic, lead and mercury all turned up in soil sampling across the site, as well as toxic compounds including pesticides and PCBs, also known as polychlorinated biphenyls, according to the nearly 800-page report. While city officials say the majority of the contaminants have been cleared from the soil, the report notes that DEHP or bis(2-ethylhexyl)phthalate, a compound used to make plastics flexible, was found at the site and will not be amended until approximately December 8, 2023. 

The tent city is being built by GardaWorld Federal Services, part of the multinational private security firm that inked a nearly $30 million deal with the city for its services in September. GardaWorld has faced scrutiny for its role in bussing migrants out of Florida and allegations of mistreating migrant children. In the past week, the company has raised the metal skeleton of several of the massive tent structures, spanning a city block. The full installation was scheduled to open later this month.  

Since August of 2022, more than 22,000 asylum seekers have arrived in Chicago from countries such as Colombia, Nicaragua and Venezuela. To date, nearly 13,000 are living in shelters across the city or are housed in police stations and O’Hare International Airport. 

“It’s not a surprise,” said Anthony Moser, a founding member of Neighbors for Environmental Justice, a watchdog environmental organization based on the South Side of Chicago. “That when you pick an industrial lot in the industrial corridor, and it turns out to have contamination.” 

The lot in Brighton Park was home to a freight terminal, zinc smelter and an underground diesel storage tank. Environmental advocates worry about potential health concerns for migrants who will be housed at the former industrial site. From the beginning, advocates like Moser said the city left the community in the dark. 

“They did not announce when they started considering this site, they did not announce when they signed a contract for this site,” said Moser. “They did not announce when they found something as a result of environment testing, they did not announce that they were going to begin construction.”

In a press conference last week, Johnson pointed to approaching winter temperatures when defending his decision to raise the Brighton Park base camp before releasing the environmental analysis to the public. Johnson added that migrants will not be transferred to the encampment until the analysis has been completed.

Advocates are calling Johnson to cancel the contract for the tent city. They are also calling on the city’s Committee on Environmental Protection and Energy to hold meetings into the site was selected, as well as further oversight from state and federal agencies. 

The state is footing the $65 million bill to build the tent encampment in Brighton Park and retrofit a nearby empty drugstore to shelter migrants. According to the governor’s office If the Illinois Environmental Protection Agency does not sign off on the report on the Brighton Park camp the state will not proceed with work there.

Initially, the plan was to transfer 500 migrants to the newly built base camp. According to the contract, the site capacity is between 250 to 1,400, but the city is aiming to shelter up to 2,000 migrants there. 

This story was originally published by Grist with the headline Chicago pauses proposed tent city for migrants amid contamination fears on Dec 5, 2023.