Rosemont to crack down on Texas bus companies bringing migrants to town
Rosemont could cite and fine bus companies from Texas, impound their vehicles, and arrest drivers for dropping off migrants in town, under an ordinance approved Monday.
The new rules — which are similar to ones in Cicero and tighter penalties being considered by the Chicago City Council this week — come after about a half dozen buses started bringing asylum-seekers to Rosemont last Wednesday.
Each bus had about 40 to 50 people, who were being let off in front of the Donald E. Stephens Convention Center, the Metra Rosemont station on Balmoral Avenue, and the Metra O’Hare transfer station on Zemke Boulevard on airport property next to Rosemont.
“We’re not going to let them just drop people off and drive away,” Mayor Brad Stephens said Monday. “It’s inhumane dropping them off on a concrete sidewalk on a day like today.”
The village ordinance, unanimously approved by trustees Monday morning, would fine bus companies $750 per vehicle for making a so-called “unscheduled” bus stop. That’s less than Cicero’s fine of $750 per individual. Migrants were dropped off at that town’s Metra station in late November.
The Rosemont ordinance also calls for buses to be impounded, which mirrors a regulation advanced by a Chicago City Council committee last Friday. The city has requirements for when and where new arrivals can be dropped off, and is considering stiffer penalties for bus companies who haven’t followed the rules.
Citing state statutes, Stephens also threatened to have local police arrest bus drivers for endangering people’s lives by dropping them off “in an inhumane nature.”
Under the ordinance, Rosemont’s public safety department is requiring the bus companies contracted by the state of Texas to fill out an application that spells out a plan for the migrants upon arrival. That would include details on who they are, where they would be housed, and how they would be fed.
“All we’re really asking is to be humane, and if you’re going to drop someone off in zero degrees in winter, you have to have someone be responsible for that,” said Village Attorney John Donahue.
Donahue, who has been in contact with 20 Texas bus companies that have been bringing migrants north, sent them a copy of the Rosemont ordinance after its approval Monday.
It’s the second Rosemont ordinance in response to the migrant crisis in as many months, after trustees on Nov. 13 approved a $1,000 tax on hotel stays 30 days and longer. The tax is seen as an attempt to prevent long-term housing of migrants, though village officials said they’re trying to protect their convention business.
Stephens, who also is the Republican state representative for the area, has said he is “nowhere near anti-migrant.” But he said his Northwest suburban municipality doesn’t have the resources to handle an influx of migrants, arguing that it’s up to Chicago and the state as declared sanctuaries.
“This is a situation they need to manage, not the communities that don’t have the wherewithal,” Stephens said.