Migrants would move from police stations to 'winterized base camps' under mayor's new plan

Nearly 1,600 asylum seekers would be moved out of Chicago police stations "before the weather begins to shift and change" and into "winterized base camps" equipped with massive tents, under a plan unveiled Thursday by Mayor Brandon Johnson.

Johnson refused to say where the tent cities would be built, only that his administration has identified suitable locations across the city. The tent structures he envisions could hold up to 1,000 migrants, though he added that 500 or so was an "ideal scenario."

During a short interview with the Sun-Times, the mayor offered no specifics on cost or funding. Instead, he described the broad outlines of a plan that includes "base camps" that would provide meals along with recreational and educational programming supplied by Chicagoans as a way to reduce what he called the "exorbitant" costs now being paid to a private staffing agency.

• This report was produced in partnership with the Chicago Sun-Times. For more, visit chicago.suntimes.com.