Chicago City Wire

The South Shore community is pushing back against a plan to place 500 illegal immigrants in a living community at South Shore High School. 

The lead plaintiffs are Natasha Dunn, Jimmy Darnell Jones, and South Shore Neighbors. The legal complaints argue the immigrants were being placed in non-compliant public housing without any notice to the neighborhood. The plaintiffs argue they are concerned about safety, access to public resources, and police response times. 

“The most burdened neighborhoods continue to be ignored and the opinions of communities of color as well as their rights including but not limited to their constitutional rights continue to be overlooked by the City of Chicago,” the lawsuit reads. “The shelter is not only opposed by the neighbors but also by Immigrant advocates who understand that simply throwing refugees into a building that is not fit for housing and a residential neighborhood that does not have the resources to support these refugees is a recipe for disaster.” 

The group is asking for a temporary restraining order against the city from housing the population in the old South Shore High School. 

The lawsuit comes amid a steep increase in the number of illegal immigrants gaining access to the country through its southern border. Over 8,000 illegal immigrants have been bussed to the Chicago area from Texas in the past several months. Local citizens have protested that illegal immigrants have been given precedence over longstanding citizens to access government aid. The protests are part of a neighborhood grassroots movement in South Shore. 

“We see how employment in hiring positions — as well as the overall change in City Hall — is favoring the Latino population. Our governor, J.B. Pritzker, has even made the head of the Democratic Party a Hispanic woman when it has historically [run by black Americans] for the last two years. Now we have a Hispanic woman as the head of the Illinois Democratic Party,” Brian Mullins, who described himself as a ‘non-immigrant Foundational Black American,’ told Breitbart News. “We are 30 percent of the population, and [vote] 96 percent for Democrats … [but] we’re not getting an exchange for our vote. We’re now trying to get black people to understand the vote is in exchange for resources, not just some arbitrary thing. Thirty years too late, but that’s where we start now.”

On May 12 leaders from the South Shore community gathered to discuss the situation. 

“Black leaders hold massive protest in Chicago against accepting and housing Illegal non-citizens. 'This is not good for the black community,’” The Citizen Free Press said on Twitter.

Speaking at the rally local activist Jimmy Darnell Jones – who is one of the lead plaintiffs in the lawsuit against the city – explained how the illegal immigrants may dilute political power from those who’ve called the area home for generations. 

“Politically, having over 500 people in our community will completely wipe out any interest we have,” Jones said. “Are you aware that there are immigrant advocates at statehouses all over this country? Who are advocating for non-citizen voting in local elections? What if that happened here? That would change the mindset of what we as a black community need to thrive here in Chicago. That's a concern of ours. This is much bigger than the Mayor of Chicago or Chicago Police Department. This is an effort to destroy our neighborhoods and silence our voices even further.”