Officers 'babysitting' as migrants overwhelm Chicago shelters
Retired Chicago Police Lt. John Garrido on Chicago struggling with migrant surge and two-thirds of homicides in the city going unsolved
Police are now "babysitting" migrants in some instances, according to a retired Chicago police lieutenant, as a result of the city's failure to find a way to deal with the influx of asylum seekers.
Lt. John Garrido joined "Fox & Friends" Thursday to detail how shelters have become overrun. Police sources say stations have become shelters for migrants, with at least two precinct lobbies housing asylum seekers.
The sources told Fox News that migrants have been sleeping in the stations' entryways. The immigrants, who do not have access to showers or adequate bathrooms, are often sick and vomiting.
While Chicago Police Department (CPD) sources said they sympathize with the migrants, the officials believe it shines a light on the nationwide immigration crisis. Chicago has been a "sanctuary city" for more than five years under Democratic Mayor Lori Lightfoot, who will leave office later this month.
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Chicago police sources told Fox News that migrants have been sleeping in police stations' entryways. This picture shows Chicago's 19th district police precinct. (Obtained by Fox News)
"This is a dangerous situation that arose from their ridiculous sanctuary city policy," a Chicago law enforcement source told Fox News. "They clearly do not have a plan to deal with it and they’re placing the cops once again in undue risk."
Garrido mentioned that despite the city's sanctuary status, they were unprepared for the large groups of migrants who are now arriving.
"It's great campaign rhetoric and for speeches, when they say that we're a sanctuary city or a welcoming city when you're thousands of miles from the border. But then when they're at our doorstep, they don't have a plan, and they haven't come up with a plan."
He said at one police station, "you can't even walk in the lobby. There are so many migrants there and there's many health issues. Some of them are sick, they're vomiting, there's not enough bathrooms."
Police sources said they worry that migrants do not realize how unsafe Chicago streets can be, with 154 murders and 610 reports of sexual assault reported this year.
"Yesterday when I left, there was an 11-year-old girl sitting on the floor by herself," a source said. "I try to explain to them not to go outside because my station is in a very bad neighborhood."
In a CNN interview, Lightfoot said Monday the city is "tapped out" and has no space left to house migrants. She also sent a letter to Texas Gov. Greg Abbott on Sunday requesting that he stop sending busloads of migrants to the Windy City over what she claims are political motivations.
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Fox News' Matt Finn, Michael Tobin, and Andrea Vacchiano contributed to this report.
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