CHICAGO — A plane carrying hundreds of migrants arrived overnight at Chicago Rockford International Airport and several buses are bound for Chicago.
The plane carrying migrants from Texas arrived just after 1 a.m. Sunday morning in Rockford, which is not classified as a Sanctuary City.
The plane can hold up to 388 passengers, but it is unclear how many migrants were on board.
Several CTA buses could be seen parked near Polk and Desplaines Sunday morning. Onboard those buses were migrants who arrived in Chicago Saturday, WGN-TV was told.
The city of Rockford shared a statement saying the Winnebago County’s sheriff, board chair and Rockford’s mayor were told about the incoming plane.
“As many people may know, the City of Chicago recently adopted an ordinance with certain requirements related to the arrival of migrants. As a result, the governor of Texas has redirected buses and planes to other nearby cities,” the statement said.
More buses and planes are likely to arrive in other cities and suburbs because a newly adopted ordinance requires advanced notice for incoming buses and fines for those who don’t comply.
The plane was expected to land Saturday night but was delayed several hours and arrived Sunday morning.
Officials said once the plane landed, migrants onboard would “offload and immediately board buses to Chicago’s ‘landing zone.'”
Winnebago County Sheriff’s deputies and officers from the Rockford Police Department will be on hand to make sure the process goes smoothly. Sheriff’s Deputies will also be escorting buses to I-90.
Officials stated migrants would not exit airport property at any time before being bussed to Chicago.
As of 8:15 a.m., nearly seven hours after the plane landed, the charter buses had not arrived at the landing zone in Chicago yet. The trip from Rockford to the city is about an hour and 15 minutes.
Sources said no additional buses had been requested to the landing zone as of 8 a.m. on top of those already being used as warming shelters for asylum-seekers who arrived Saturday.
WGN-TV has reached out to officials with the Mayor’s Office and Office of Emergency Management and Communications (OEMC) for comment.
