Two lawsuits are among 7 filed against the city related to funding for migrants
Two lawsuits filed by Black Chicago residents have compelled the city to abandon plans to convert community buildings into migrant shelters. Chicago, struggling to care for more than 35,000 asylum-seekers transported from the border by Texas Governor Greg Abbott over the past 18 months, faced local backlash over shelter conditions.
Shelters in converted warehouses, filled to capacity with new arrivals living in poor conditions, prompted the city to commandeer other venues. Among them was a field house at Amundsen Park, a cherished community space in Austin. Residents, upset that their neighborhood’s ‘crown jewel’ would house migrants, sued the city, emphasizing the designated recreational use of the field house within the community.
Cata Truss, a government employee and Democrat, and Gerald Harris, a football coach at the park, sued the city, expressing their anger at Mayor Brandon Johnson’s government spending over $250 million caring for migrants amid community poverty. The lawsuits, successfully preventing the conversion of Amundsen Park Fieldhouse into a migrant shelter, highlight the tension between local needs and the city’s response to the migrant influx.