2 Buses Of Migrants Dropped Unannounced In Naperville In Past 6 Days

NAPERVILLE, IL — Two busloads of migrants have been dropped off unannounced in Naperville in the past week as the city became the latest collar county location for asylum-seekers to be dropped off en route to Chicago in recent weeks.

A city spokeswoman confirmed to Patch on Wednesday that both buses arrived at Naperville’s Fifth Avenue station and that migrants immediately boarded a Metra train bound for Chicago. Naperville spokeswoman Linda LaCloche said that the first bus arrived late Thursday afternoon before the second bus arrived in the early evening hours of Christmas Eve.

The city did not receive prior notification that the buses were arriving and only became aware of the arrivals after they happened, LaCloche said on Wednesday. She said that city officials cannot confirm where the buses arrived from or how many migrants were on the buses.

City officials have not had any contact with the bus companies which delivered the migrants, she added.

The City of Naperville established a migrant Emergency Operations Plan in 2022 in advance of the possibility that migrants would begin arriving in Chicago, which has been designated as a sanctuary city.

Naperville's contingency plan calls for the officials to only handle migrants on an emergency basis and calls for city officials to work with community agencies to deal with the arrivals as city officials await word from the state on how to proceed.

“Given how the situation is evolving and changing, we continue to update our plan and keep it current with the given situations we are witnessing,” LaCloche wrote to Patch in an email on Wednesday. “We have been actively meeting since mid-December due to the changes with Chicago’s policies. We continue to monitor this ever-changing situation.”

Naperville joined the growing number of communities where migrants have arrived from southern border states such as Texas. In recent days, asylum seekers have arrived at Metra stations Hinsdale and Westmont, bound for Chicago, where shelters have been established for migrants.

Officials in Clarendon Hills alerted residents to the fact that migrants had been sent to the two neighboring communities. In the alert, officials said that the train station in Clarendon Hills, along with shelters, had been temporarily closed and that police patrols had increased in the village.

In Fox River Grove in McHenry County, a busload of 38 migrants from Texas were dropped off there over the Christmas weekend and were told they were in Chicago, officials said. Police officers from the village learned of the situation and helped to provide the migrants with access to a warming shelter," ensuring some safety and comfort for them throughout the night", the village said in a news release.

Officials in Lockport, New Lenox, and Tinley Park have recently approved measures that would restrict buses from stopping in those communities to avoid migrants being dropped off there.

Lockport had a bus filled with migrants stop at its Metra Station in mid-December, which prompted Mayor Steve Streit to sign an executive order restricting intercity buses from stopping in the village. The measure requires intercity buses to apply for village approval within five days before its scheduled arrival. The policy will remain in effect until Jan. 3 when the full council can approve a resolution.

New Lenox Mayor Tim Baldermann also recently signed a similar executive order that restricts intercity buses from dropping off migrants at transportation centers. The order was signed within 12 hours after a bus attempted to stop in Manhattan and drop off migrants bound for Chicago.

In Tinley Park, village officials approved a measure last week providing police with the authority to cite, impound, or take other appropriate measures against any intercity bus driver that attempts to make an unscheduled stop in Tinley Park and unload passengers.

“Our municipalities have seen an increase in buses from Texas disembarking passengers at Metra stations and other locations throughout the county,” Will County Emergency Management Agency Director Allison Anderson said in a news release. “We are working to coordinate information between public safety agencies, the state of Illinois, and the City of Chicago. Our priority is ensuring humane transportation of asylum-seekers to the official Chicago landing zone.”