People of the Inn of Chicago have been concerned by recent harsh problems.
According to documents obtained through a Freedom of Information Act demand, Chicago police were called to an illegal immigrant house hundreds of times over the past month to investigate complaints of violent acts.
The papers, obtained by native Terry Newsome and reviewed by The Epoch Times, reveal that authorities were dispatched to the Inn of Chicago, a lodge then serving as a sanctuary for illegal immigrants, more than 250 periods between January 2023 and February 2024.
While many of those calls were for parking and traffic violations, a significant portion were for alleged crimes such as aggravated assault, domestic battery, child abduction, and child abuse, including sexual assault.
In one case, a 4- year- old victim reported being “inappropriately touched” multiple times by an unknown offender living in the shelter. Three child victims were transported to Lurie Children’s Hospital after being charged with domestic battery and sexual assault in another highly redacted case.
Residents of the hotel’s Streeterville neighborhood are not unaware of the increase in criminal activity at the Inn of Chicago. The complaints have been numerous, prompting Ward 42 Alderman Brendan Reilly to call for the shelter’s closure.
In an email to constituents in October of last year, Mr. Reilly wrote that” I have heard from hundreds of neighborhood residents voicing their concerns about the ongoing issues relating to the migrant shelter operating at the Inn of Chicago.”
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Mr. Reilly said he and other residents had witnessed” a host of criminal activities” at the site, including narcotics sales, retail theft, and “apparent sex trafficking”, to name a few. Additionally, he claimed that piles of human waste and trash had accumulated in the hotel’s alleys.
” The’ experiment’ of housing 1, 500 migrants at the Inn of Chicago has been an abject failure”, he wrote. The conditions there are “deplorable,” and the property is unsafe for the migrant families who live there and who are mingled with hundreds of single, young adult males. I worry about the safety of my constituents and the thousands of tourists and visitors who visit the area every day, but also worry about the well-being of these young migrant families.
That concern was shared by Mr. Newsome, who noted the hotel’s proximity to the city’s bustling commercial district along North Michigan Avenue.
” It’s only a block off the Magnificent Mile. People fly in from all over the country, or world, to go shopping”, he told The Epoch Times.
Mr. Newsome, who resides in Downers Grove, a suburb of Chicago, added that the costs associated with responding to the emergency calls would only add to the city’s countless illegal immigrants ‘ already burden of paying for housing and food.
” We have to pay for the police to come off their beat, we have to pay for the ambulance, we have to pay to take them to the hospital, put them through emergency]care]. That’s hidden costs that we do n’t even have a clue”, he said.
The Inn of Chicago is still open to the public despite the fact that its contract with the city for illegal immigrant housing expires on December 31. According to the hotel’s website, it will remain “temporarily closed” until July 2024, though attempts to book anything after July 1 online produce a” This site ca n’t be reached” message. The hotel’s phone number produces a busy signal, and an emailed request for comment received no response.
Since August 2022, The City of Chicago claims to have taken on more than 37, 000 illegal immigrants. In total, the city has spent nearly$ 300 million accommodating them.
In response to concerns about overpopulation, Chicago’s Democratic Mayor Brandon Johnson passed a 60-day maximum stay policy for illegal immigrants in temporary shelters last month. The policy was supposed to go into effect in January, but bad weather delayed its implementation.
The Chicago Police Department and the mayor’s office have also been contacted by The Epoch Times for comment.
