Nearly 3,000 migrants dropped off in DuPage County as Chicago cracks down on ‘rogue buses’

On Dec. 13 the city of Chicago amended a “bus safety” ordinance, threatening to tow and impound buses that refuse to comply with the safety protocols by dropping passengers off late at night, or dropping migrant passengers off at a designated “landing zone.”

In the weeks following, more than 5,000 migrants were dropped off in surrounding municipalities prompting several suburbs like Rosemont, Cicero and more recently Hinsdale, to pass similar ordinances cracking down on “rogue buses.”

Since Dec. 14 the DuPage County Office of Homeland Security and Emergency Management (OHSEM) tracked 72 buses dropping off 2,988 migrant passengers across the county leaving local authorities scrambling to organize transportation efforts to the designated landing zone in Chicago.

The OHSEM has been the lead coordinator between DuPage, its communities and neighboring counties, DuPage County Board Chair Deborah Conroy said in an interview with Pioneer Press.

“So far, we’ve been very fortunate, we’ve had no incidents, you know, it’s all been done very, very well,” Conroy said. “Our partnership with the other collar counties’ emergency managers has been amazing, law enforcement, Metra police, everybody’s working together.”

In an email response to questions from Pioneer Press, DuPage County officials said OHSEM is collaborating with local municipalities, police departments, Metra police, and its collar county and Chicago colleagues in “keeping open lines of communication as buses arrive to ensure all asylum-seekers can get to Chicago’s landing zone as quickly as possible.”

Illinois has a single landing zone for migrants at 800 S. Desplaines Street, near the city’s Ogilvie Transportation Center, and Union Station where many of the migrants are sent to from the suburbs.

“This has become a humanitarian issue,” Conroy said. “These folks primarily, young families are on these buses, many of them get off at these Metra stations and don’t even understand they’re not in Chicago yet, have to get on a train and then take the train into the city. The governor [of Texas] has chosen to play politics with people’s lives.”

According to DuPage County officials, all of the migrant bus arrivals have been unannounced.

“Gov. [Abbott], I think, premeditatedly planned this to try to cause chaos over the holidays,” Conroy said, accusing the Texas Governor of targeting predominantly democratic areas.

Conroy requested Gov. J.B. Pritzker supply the county with buses in the event someone is dropped off away from a metra station, but expressed concern over statewide coordination efforts.

“I don’t think anybody, I don’t think the press, I don’t think the state, I don’t think anybody knew what was going on here in DuPage County over the holidays.”

Since August 2022, when Texas began busing migrants to Chicago, the city has recorded more than 29,000 people and 636 buses arriving.

The DuPage County Board has no plans to pass a similar ordinance as Chicago’s, Conroy said. “It’s not the right thing to do; it’s not going to prevent folks from coming, it’s just going to create more chaos as to where they’re going to end up.”