The City of Chicago inked a nearly $30 million deal with a private security firm to set up a massive, winterized tent city for migrants.
GardaWorld Federal Services and a subsidiary sealed a one-year $29.4 million contract with Chicago on Sept. 12, less than a week after Mayor Brandon Johnson announced plans to move about 1,600 migrants to a network of newly erected tent cities across the city. He said the relocations will occur “before the weather begins to shift and change.”
The contract allows for the relocation of migrants from police stations, Midway and O’Hare airports and other places where they have taken up temporary shelter.
The contract has not mentioned a specific site for the tent city nor provides a timetable for its construction.
The majority of the 14,000 asylum-seeking migrants who have arrived in Chicago since August 2022 originated from Texas, and Republican Governor Greg Abbott has directed some.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.