BROADVIEW, Ill. — The mayor of the Village of Broadview is the latest suburban leader to take action and put restrictions in place on migrant buses arriving in her jurisdiction.
Mayor Katrina Thompson said she decided to take action by signing an executive order because the next village board meeting isn’t for more than two weeks and she anticipates migrant buses could potentially arrive here before then.
“It’s not that we don’t have love and compassion toward others but we have a real situation,” she said. “We have to plan and we didn’t anticipate this was another journey we were going to be on. It kind of takes me back to when we were in Covid and the crisis. Always in a crisis mode to fix a problem.”
While migrant buses haven’t arrived in Broadview yet, Thompson anticipates it could happen soon, as it has in other Chicago suburbs.
She signed an executive order setting rules in place.
“The executive orders prohibits the unscheduled unloading of passengers from buses within the Village of Broadview during severe weather events or without a coordinated plan. Violation of the new executive order by any bus company or bus driver, regardless of origin or destination, authorizes the seizure and impoundment of the bus by the Broadview Police Department as well as criminal charges to be filed against the company and driver,” a statement from the mayor’s office said.
“We request you notify us five days in advance,” Police Chief Thomas Mills said. “We need to know how many people are coming under the age of 18 (and) how many adults so we know how many are arriving in the Village of Broadview.”
On Thursday, the Village of Oak Lawn announced it will consider requiring a local license to operate a bus within the village, after already putting measures in place to restrict extended stays at motels for migrants.
Since the City of Chicago passed an ordinance requiring advance notice for incoming buses and fining those who don’t comply, buses have been seen dropping migrants in suburbs.
Other jurisdictions like Chicago Ridge, Elburn and Matteson have passed or are considering ordinances to crack down as this crisis continues.
There were reports of another drop off of up to 70 migrants near a Metra stop in Glen Ellyn Thursday afternoon. Buses have also arrived in Kankakee and Westmont.
