Two Chicago residents will face a judge on Monday after they sued the city to stop the use of public spaces like parks and police stations to house migrants.

South Shore activists Natasha Dunn, Jimmy Darnell Jones and others filed the lawsuit in September against the city, Democratic mayor Brandon Johnson and Chicago public schools.

The plaintiffs claim the use of public buildings to house migrants is a nuisance to the community and accuses officials of violating codes as they desperately search for room to shelter asylum seekers.

If the suit is successful, mayor Johnson would be prevented from disrupting park programs, violating zoning laws, and would have to fully disclose how much money the city is spending on migrants. Johnson has previously estimated Chicago will spend roughly $255 million on the migrant crisis in 2023.

More than 24,000 migrants have arrived in the Windy City since Texas governor Greg Abbot began sending buses last year in an attempt to highlight what he calls Democrat 's open-border policies. Chicago State officials said roughly 700 new migrants arrive each week.

A vacant lot is set to be turned into a migrant camp, despite loud opposition from locals The city has used commercial space, hotels, and park district fieldhouses as shelters once migrants are moved from police stations and the O'Hare International airport.

As space runs out, officials are working on future camp sites for migrants, including a 'winterized' one in a vacant lot in in Brighton Park; the proposed camp has sparked multiple protests from the area's residents, who say they do not want the location disrupted. They also say the soil is contaminated with toxic metals.

Dunn and Jones also filed a lawsuit in May to stop the city from turning the former South Shore High School into a shelter for migrants. That suit was dropped and the city never turned the school into housing for asylum seekers, despite a city contract to do so.

Earlier this month governor J.B. Pritzker announced Thursday that Illinois will funnel an additional $160 million to help migrants arriving in Chicago to resettle, including $65 million to help the city launch 'winterized' temporary shelter to avoid people sleeping outdoors in cold weather.

Illinois has already spent or committed more than $638 million to address the humanitarian asylum seeker crisis. The additional funds will come from the Illinois Department of Human Services. Chicago is in charge of housing new arrivals and has also spent hundreds of millions of dollars trying to accommodate them.

Of the $160 million new investment from the state, $30 million will be dedicated to setting up an intake and welcome center to better assist those coming to Chicago who already have a place to stay with friends or relatives, or who plan to continue on to another location, according to the governor.

https://img.particlenews.com/image.php?url=4aMa9c_0pu9GaTY00 An infuriated local called mayor Brandon Johnson and Democrats 'criminals' for their handling of the situation as residents met to discuss a lawsuit filed against the city Another $65 million will go toward helping Chicago set up a “winterized soft shelter site” providing temporary housing for up to 2,000 people. State officials did not immediately respond to a request for clarification on whether this refers to tents or brick-and-mortar shelters.

And $65 million more will provide services such as rental assistance and help with paperwork, including work permits. The idea is to help people live independently as soon as possible.

Pritzker said the state has stepped in now because the city has moved too slowly. Chicago has come under scrutiny from immigrant rights groups, local leaders and residents for its handling of the crisis which has heavily relied on volunteers.

'The city’s been operating its own methodology process. And it hasn’t moved fast enough,' Pritzker said at a news conference at a state building in Chicago. 'We’re stepping in here to try to help and accelerate this process.'

Mayor Brandon Johnson, who took office in May, has called it an inherited problem and one the city is working to address. Earlier this week, he announced new limits on how long migrants can stay at city-run shelters and said more resources would come from the state and county.

Roughly 2,500 men, women and children are awaiting placement at city-run shelters and sleeping inside or outside police stations or at O’Hare International Airport, according to the city.

Meanwhile tensions between Chicago's black and Hispanic communities have reached a boiling point as the city's African American community denounces the use of public funds to assist migrants.

Democratic Socialist alderman Carlos Ramirez-Rosa was forced to resign from his position as City Council floor leader after he was accuse of 'bullying' a colleague and blocking her from attending a vote on a referendum on the city's sanctuary status.

Lawmakers were attending a vote over whether to put Chicago's sanctuary city status on the ballot next year.

The city's sanctuary status has been in place since 1985 and helps to 'ensure undocumented residents are not prosecuted solely due to their immigration status.'

Ramirez-Rosa was tasked with gathering support for the mayor to turn back the referendum challenge and was reportedly trying to prevent the measure's supporters from gaining a quorum to vote on the proposal.

Chicago's black caucus said the incident was 'an unfortunate and direct reminder of the decades of challenges that African-American women serving in City Council have had to overcome in our combined efforts to enhance the upward mobility of our collective communities.'

Cities like New York and Denver have also ran out of room to house the surge of migrants coming from the US-Mexico border as winter arrives.

NYC has already started housing migrants in tent facilities in airfields and soccer fields, with mayor Eric Adams forced to cut millions of dollars from city services and warning that migrants could be sheltered in parks next.

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