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Dive brief:
- Illinois officials have halted construction of a $29 million migrant tent camp in Chicago’s Brighton Park neighborhood after a report released Friday found evidence of potentially toxic chemicals in the site’s soil.
- The facility is designed to temporarily house up to 2,000 migrants as part of the city’s efforts to reduce the number of people sleeping in police stations and other public facilities.
- The 800 pages environmental assessment report released by the city revealed that at least some of the soil at the site is contaminated with mercury and other toxic compounds, according to NBC Chicago. A Cook County judge Monday ordered the city to keep residents informed before work resumes at the site, according to ABC 7.
Diving knowledge:
Montreal-based security services company GardaWorld began construction on the temporary tent-like structures in Brighton Park last week under a $29 million contract with the city, according to NBC Chicago, who also said the site was once used as a zinc smelter. and was part of a railroad.
In 2021, GardaWorld worked with the federal government to create a controversial center at Fort Bliss in El Paso, Texas, for thousands of unaccompanied migrant children crossing the border. according to The Denver Post.
As winter approaches, Chicago faces a major homeless problem, due in part to an influx of transported asylum seekers there at regular intervals throughout the state of Texas, according to the city. Although most of them are from Venezuela, they are also from countries like Africa, Europe and the Middle East.
Since August 2022, more than 20,000 men, women and children seeking asylum have arrived in Chicago. State officials, including Gov. JB Pritzker, have defended the dwelling place in Brighton Park, but neighborhood residents and some local politicians have opposed its construction.
In a public meeting last month, Councilor Raymond López he questioned the selection of the lot for the camp, according to WGN.
“This location is wrong. It’s a toxic brownfield — a railroad zinc dump on the ground and now we’re going to pave it over and put 2,000 people on top of it?,” Lopez said. “There’s a reason there’s nothing.” .
Abandoned fields (defined as any place with enough potential industrial contamination to have complicated its redevelopment) present an important opportunity for contractors and developers facing pressures like the housing crisis, climate change and land shortages, according to a recent report by Law 360.
However, properties with contaminated soils pose complex challenges in terms of liability, public policy, climate change, environmental justice, community engagement and funding, the report said.
