Elburn considers ban on unscheduled dropoffs of asylum-seekers
The Elburn village board will vote Wednesday on whether to ban unscheduled bus drop-offs of people seeking asylum.
The meeting is at 7 p.m. at the village hall, 301 E. North St.
Elburn officials reported last week that a busload of the migrants had been dropped off at the Metra station, and given tickets to take the train to Chicago.
Chicago banned buses from making unscheduled stops starting in mid-November, and said it might seize buses that disobeyed. Since then, asylum-seekers have been dropped off in other towns, including Aurora, Fox River Grove, Rosemont and Elmhurst.
Rosemont and Aurora have enacted ordinances banning unscheduled drop-offs. Aurora’s law requires intercity buses from outside the Chicago metropolitan area making unscheduled stops to give the city five days’ notice. Elburn’s proposed ordinance would do the same.
Last week, a busload of 38 migrants arrived at the Elburn Metra train station.
Four people had prearranged rides to pick them up, but the remaining 34 migrants had nowhere to go, Elburn Village President Jeff Walter said.
“We had no prior notice they were coming,” Walter said. “We have no hotels, no places for people to stay.”
Village officials helped get the 34 individuals boarded onto the train headed for Chicago. They all had prepaid fare vouchers.
Police Chief Nick Sikora said according to the Metra Railroad Police, once the individuals arrived in Chicago, they would be taken to a processing center.
Walter, Sikora and Village Administrator John Nevenhoven met at Village Hall to discuss next steps.
“We’re working on defining what our options should be,” Walter said.
The city of Chicago passed its ordinance on Dec. 13 prohibiting buses from arriving and dropping people off in the city with no prior notice.
Drivers began taking their busloads of people out to the Chicago suburbs. Elburn is about 50 miles west of Chicago.
Several municipalities, including Elk Grove Village and Schaumburg, are finding ways to prevent this from happening, Walter said.
They are considering measures such as impounding the buses and fining the drivers as much as $750 an incident.
At least one suburb is taking a different tack.
According to its website, the village of Oak Park has reallocated unspent money allotted to municipalities during the pandemic and is using a grant from the state to municipalities providing support to asylum-seekers to provide aid to migrants through the beginning of February.
Oak Park’s website indicates the village officially is supporting 162 asylum-seekers housed at a hotel and a YMCA within the community, including 57 children under the age of 18. In addition, 18 people are staying at a local church with the support of volunteers.
Shaw Media contributed to this report.