If it was not for the news report [ “Dystopian Homeless Encampments Overtake Chicago’s Airports.”] nothing would have happened.
I'd like to know how they pass screening. What do they mean "they" are letting them back in? Who is "they". I want to know who approved of this.
https://chicago.suntimes.com/city-ha...lori-lightfoot
Mayor vows to remove unhoused people from O’Hare as more seek shelter at airport
Lightfoot said Thursday that it’s a security risk to allow homeless people to stay at O’Hare. But a law enforcement source said that starting this week, additional police has been dedicated to offering services to homeless people — and removing those who don’t accept the help.
By Fran Spielman, Tom Schuba, Neil Steinberg and Emmanuel Camarillo Feb 16, 2023, 8:24pm CST
Advocates and workers say the number of unhoused people that sleep or take refuge at the airport has increased substantially this year.
In remarks to reporters Thursday, the mayor acknowledged the seriousness of the problem — which she said was different than encampments beneath viaducts, in parks and elsewhere on city streets — even as she argued that the conservative media had blown the issue out of proportion.
“We have taken and will continue to take the steps that are necessary to move people out of the airports,” she said. “The airports are a very different place than on the street under an underpass.”
As a secure location, O’Hare does not allow members of the public to be at the airport unless they are flying in or out or work there. Chicago police and the city Department of Aviation have said “we absolutely, fundamentally cannot have people sleeping in our airports who are homeless. That is unacceptable,” the mayor said. “We’re gonna continue within the bounds of the law to do what is necessary to provide those folks with support —but elsewhere. They can’t be in our airports.”
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Stephan Koruba, a nurse-practitioner at the Night Ministry, said he and another nurse-practitioner were at O’Hare for three hours Sunday, providing medical care at the request of Haymarket, and found far more people camping out there than before.
“It was way, way busier, three times what we saw before,” he said. “We were seeing people we knew from all over the city. The attractions are obvious — a roof over your head, relatively warm, restrooms.”
Koruba and his colleague saw 45 homeless people and treated 14 for wounds, parasites and substance abuse.
Koruba said he asked his clients why there were now more people living at O’Hare.
“They said, ‘They’re letting us back in,’” he said. “I don’t know if word got out that it’s a good place to be.”
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