Chicago City Wire

Between May and mid-October last year, City of Chicago taxpayers spent $567,563.76 housing hundreds of illegal aliens invited to live in a bus terminal near O'Hare Airport's Terminal 1.

The total included $83,123 to buy piping and drapes to shield illegal alien sleeping accommodations from the public, $173,225 in janitorial services, and $311,216 for Chicago police, who tallied 5,872 additional hours protecting paying passengers from the airport's new, notably non-TSA screened, denizens.

On Oct. 17, Chicago Department of Aviation Assistant Commissioner Joe Serb calculated the total taxpayer spend for his boss, Managing Deputy Commissioner Tom O'Brien, who said he needed "costs associated with the services at the migrant center" by that afternoon.

Serb's report, which didn't include food, was included in 555 pages of illegal alien-related emails from last year obtained via a Freedom of Information Request by Chicago City Wire.

They depict Serb, a retired Chicago Police Department lieutenant turned O'Hare operations manager, suddenly thrust into the role of coordinating room and board for hundreds of destitute Spanish-speakers, who trekked there with the expectation they would be cared for.

The emails show that keeping the public promises made by elected officials, including Governor J.B. Pritzker and Mayor Brandon Johnson, who declared Illinois would be a "sanctuary" for illegal aliens, has fallen to lower-level foot soldiers, left to make decisions on the fly without leadership from their higher-ups.

'The continued encroachment of migrants'

As illegal aliens started arriving at O'Hare in May 2023, airport police began emailing a "Migrant Staging Area Count" at midnight to a group of 13 city employees.

First Watch Shift Supervisor, Lt. Bernard Pudowski, Jr. reported that "25 migrants" were on location on May 1, living in O'Hare's bus terminal.

By July 20, that number spiked to 101, then 186 in August, to more than 400 in September.

A Sept. 13 email shows that the State of Illinois signed a contract with the O'Hare Hilton, adjacent to the bus terminal, to house some of the illegal aliens in their guest rooms, beside paying travelers.

"First arrivals are anticipated this morning within the next hour or so. Population would be families, single women and those with any health needs that need follow on care. No single men at this point," wrote Chicago Department of Aviation First Deputy Commissioner Andrew Velasquez. "There is no easy access out of the airport unless someone decides to take the Blue line. Additionally, there is no easy access to any restaurants or other amenities at the airport as the majority of our concessionaires are post security."

"We should also inform them that amenities are limited in the terminals should they decide to walk over to these areas, unless they decide to visit McDonalds at T5," he wrote.

The bus terminal continued to swell.

"The attached photos are from yesterday's walk-through and show the continued encroachment of migrants into the one center walkway which as of yesterday was reduced in places to as little as five feet," Serb wrote in an Oct. 19 email to Mayor Brandon Johnson's office.

Three days later, emergency manager Antoine C. Jones reported a "disturbance" among the illegal aliens at Bus Shuttle Center Door 3. City officials redacted details of the incident.

The growing crowd became increasingly demanding.

On Oct. 27, City Emergency Services Manager Christopher Purcell emailed Boingo Wireless, the airport's internet provider, asking whether it could improve the signal in the bus terminal, where illegal aliens were having trouble using it.

Boingo executive Daniel Garcia explained, it wasn't a signal problem.

"If there (are) 200 people all trying to connect at the same time during peak times the (system) will be at capacity and struggle to connect more and more clients," he said, explaining that it was designed for "50-60" passengers in the airport.