Wilmette Creates Plan For Welcoming Asylum-Seekers To Area

WILMETTE, IL – Nine busloads of asylum-seekers arriving from Texas have landed in Wilmette since New Year’s Eve, prompting the village to establish a plan for welcoming migrants into the area, the village said on Thursday.

In a communication email to residents, Wilmette village officials said that their approach to dealing with the “evolving situation” is based on their commitment to creating as much of an inclusive community as possible.

While the village wishes to promote an environment where all feel safe and welcomed, it must also balance that desire with the limited scope of services that local government agencies like Wilmette have at its disposal, officials said.

For the past several months, the village says it has been working with its police and fire departments to ensure it is prepared to support the safety and well-being of passengers in buses arriving, the village said.

The buses of migrants that have arrived in Wilmette have all been unannounced, officials said and when police officials become aware that a bus has arrived in the village, police officers — including those with Spanish-speaking capabilities — greet the bus. Bus drivers are either re-directed to the Welcoming Center in Chicago or to the Wilmette Metra Station, where passengers can wait inside the heated station to board a train to Ogilvie Transportation Center in Chicago.

At OTC, Metra staff, who are made aware by Wilmette Police of the incoming passengers, greet the migrants and guide them to the Chicago Welcoming Center.

Based upon recommendations and protocols from the Illinois Emergency Management Agency, Cook County Emergency Management, and Chicago’s Office of Emergency Management and Communications, the Village is guiding migrant passengers to the City of Chicago’s Welcoming Center, which is supported by the State of Illinois.

The intake center in Chicago helps to process individuals seeking asylum and provides connections to temporary shelter, food, medical care, and wrap-around social services.

In addition, bus passengers disembarking the buses in Wilmette have not been properly attired for the area’s winter weather, the village said. With the impending freezing temperatures that are expected to arrive on Sunday, the village is coordinating a winter clothing drive. Residents may drop off coats, hats, gloves, scarves, pants, and boots in designated boxes inside the Wilmette Metra Station, which is located at 722 Green Bay Rd.

Residents should not drop off any food or other items outside of the clothing that has been requested, the village said.