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Articles by Regional Reporter, Illinois Juanpablo Ramirez-Franco

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This coverage is made possible through a partnership between Grist and WBEZ, the NPR station in Chicago.

A controversial tent city to house migrants in Chicago will not go forward after Illinois Governor J.B. Pritzker cited environmental concerns on Tuesday, pulling the state’s support for Mayor Brandon Johnson’s project to provide winter shelter for asylum seekers.

“We will not proceed with housing families on a site where serious environmental concerns are still present,” Pritzker said in a statement.

The Illinois Environmental Protection Agency came to the conclusion that the camp wasn’t safe after reviewing a city-issued report detailing the contaminants found at the former industrial site in the city’s Southwests Side and the efforts to remove them.

The decision comes barely a day after the governor’s office called for a pause in the construction in the Brighton Park neighborhood, where both neighbors and environmental advocates opposed the propo... Read more

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