Lake County municipalities scramble to regulate migrant bus drop-offs; ‘I don’t think that’s the way people should be treated’

As more migrants arrive in Chicago and the surrounding suburbs, cities and villages in Lake County have begun to pass ordinances to regulate the unscheduled buses chartered from Texas to the Chicago metropolitan area.

More than 24,000 migrants, some seeking asylum, have been transported to Chicago from the southern border since August of 2022. Newcomers must check-in at specified landing sites in Chicago between 8 a.m. and 5:30 p.m., Monday through Friday.

A recent Chicago ordinance allows the city to sue rogue bus operators dropping off migrants outside of the set hours and locations.

In Lake County, the cities of Waukegan, North Chicago and Highwood — and villages of Grayslake and Buffalo Grove — approved ordinances Tuesday to regulate unscheduled migrant buses at their respective council meetings.

The ordinances require the bus companies to apply for permits with the municipality prior to the arrival date, and outlines set days and times for bus arrivals. Some municipalities also require a manifest of the passengers on the bus. Various fine amounts will be imposed for not following the ordinances.

[ Citing ‘passengers’ safety’ Buffalo Grove Village Board one of latest to consider regulations for unscheduled drop-off of migrants ]

Dulce Ortiz, executive director of Mano a Mano Family Resource Center in Round Lake Park, has mixed feelings about cities regulating the buses carrying migrants.

On one hand, she said it’s a good thing because it ensures more safety and security for the new arrivals. However, Ortiz is concerned ordinances and restrictions on drop-offs could cause the bus companies to act more recklessly.

“It’s a good thing, but I think it’s like a double-edged sword,” she said. “(The bus drivers) are like, ‘If all these cities pass these ordinances, why can’t we just cross the state line and drop them off anywhere, like the southern part of the state?’”

Grayslake Mayor Rhett Taylor said the ordinance is for the safety of the bus passengers, after reports of migrants being dropped off late at night at various locations.

“Across the suburban area, we have had instances where passengers have been dropped on the sides of the road, like Route 57 down by Kankakee and elsewhere,” Taylor said during Tuesday’s meeting. “That’s not appropriate.”

The mayor said the regulations are within the village’s scope as the primary authority over the streets of Grayslake, adding that the village has no bus terminals or stations, nor the ability to house people in any temporary fashion.

[ Top Stories of 2023: Migrants find their way to Lake County; service organizations struggle to keep up with demand ]

The approved ordinance will help the village prepare for potential passengers arriving in Grayslake and make the appropriate arrangements for travel to Chicago, according to the mayor.

The Grayslake ordinance requires all chartered buses with one-way passengers to apply for a permit at least seven days prior to the drop-off date. All drivers must maintain insurance, and a list of passengers must be provided to the village beforehand. Passengers can only disembark from the bus during the designated hours of 10 a.m. to 3 p.m., Monday through Friday, at designated drop-off locations.

Midnight drop-off

After a bus from Texas brought 39 migrants to the Waukegan Metra train station just after midnight on Dec. 21 with no plan for the passengers once they arrived, Mayor Ann Taylor and other officials began a process to legislate regulations for the bus companies.

“I believe this is just inhumane to do to people,” she said Monday. “You were dropping people off without proper clothing, without proper accommodations, or anything like that. There’s no notification to us there’s a bus coming.”

Taylor, her staff and the city’s corporation counsel began crafting work on an ordinance to regulate unscheduled buses, trains or airplanes arriving in Waukegan, which the City Council unanimously approved Tuesday.

A plane landed in Rockford carrying 355 migrants at around 1 a.m. Sunday. Waukegan National Airport accommodates international travelers.

[ More migrants arrive in Chicago after being flown from Texas to Rockford. Mayor Johnson says Gov. Abbott continues ‘to sow seeds of chaos.’ ]

Had Metra not informed Waukegan officials a bus was arriving at the station on Dec. 21, Taylor said it was likely the migrant passengers would have waited outside in the cold until the station opened at 4 a.m.

Since city officials were warned, she said a plan was put in place. It involved an escort of Waukegan police officers and a bus company the city hired to transport the migrants from Waukegan to the Chicago processing center.

“Had we not known about it, they would have been dropped off at the Metra station,” Taylor said. “Those kind of temperatures without adequate clothing, I hate to think what might have happened. I don’t think that’s the way people should be treated.”

As the city was preparing its ordinance for approval at Tuesday’s meeting, a second group of migrants arrived Friday at the Waukegan railroad station. Taylor said they had a handler with tickets to put them on a train to the city. It was not perfect, but a better situation, she said.

Waukegan’s ordinance requires any unscheduled transporter of people to give the chief of police an application five days before arrival containing a manifest of the passengers, a plan for their care and contact information for those involved. They must arrive between 7 a.m. and 4 p.m., Monday through Friday.

The ordinance allows Waukegan officials to impose a fine of between $25 and $750 a day per passenger, as well as impound the bus or plane. For the Dec. 21 incident, the fine could have been as high as $29,250 per day, officials said.

Kelley Gandurski, an attorney with corporation counsel Elrod Friedman, said the purpose of the ordinance is to hold the transporters accountable, and make sure the passengers arrive at the Chicago processing center where resources are available.

“This ordinance does not punish the passengers on the bus,” Gandurski said. “It targets the bus companies who are making money — lots of money — off of these transports, and trying to skirt around the law by placing these passengers in peril.”

Waukegan Ald. Lynn Florian, 8th Ward, said she wants the migrants treated well, but municipalities need help from the state and federal governments. She believes Washington needs to take the lead, and not let Texas Gov. Greg Abbott send people to Waukegan at his whim.

“This is a debacle,” Florian said. “Until the federal government gets a handle on this, this is what we’re left with and it’s on our backs to figure out what we’re going to do. It’s ridiculous the federal government is not stepping up and solving this problem.”

[ Ordinance changes, executive orders follow unscheduled drop offs of migrants in the south and southwest suburbs ]

A little more than an hour before Waukegan approved its legislation controlling unscheduled bus traffic related to the current migrant crisis, the North Chicago City Council unanimously approved a similar ordinance.

North Chicago Mayor Leon Rockingham Jr. said the legislation allows his city to have, “some control over what would otherwise be a totally uncontrollable situation.” The goal is “holding transport companies accountable,” he said.

“This ordinance allows the City to protect the interests of the community while at (the) same time expedite meeting the health, legal and shelter needs of the migrants,” Rockingham said in a text.

chilles@chicagotribune.com