When Mayor Brandon Johnson picks up the mayor’s gavel for the first time, he will have been in office for just 10 days — and if he had a brief honeymoon, Wednesday’s meeting of the City Council will signal its end.

Ald. Nicholas Sposato (38th Ward) hosted a community meeting Tuesday to discuss the city’s plan to use parts of Wright College as a respite center — a temporary location where 400 asylum seekers will have a place to rest, take a shower and receive a hot meal as the city works to find shelter for them.

On Monday, WTTW News reporter Joanna Hernandez moderated the latest edition of our “Latino Voices” community conversations and discussed with community leaders what being a sanctuary city to immigrants really means.

The 8-year-old girl and her family were being held in Harlingen, Texas, in the Rio Grande Valley, one of the busiest corridors for migrant crossings. The girl experienced “a medical emergency” and emergency medical services were called. 

One roadblock to the passage of a state budget this week has been a set of programs in which Illinois provides health care coverage to green-card holders and undocumented residents.

But US authorities saw a 50% drop in the number of migrant encounters along the border over the previous two days compared to earlier in the week — before Title 42 ended. The situation at the border is “very fluid,” a senior Homeland Security official told reporters Monday.

The policy allowed authorities to quickly expel migrants at U.S. borders in an effort to stop the spread of COVID-19. More than 2.8 million migrants were expelled, according to Customs and Border protection data. But the policy has also created more confusion and misinformation among the people who are seeking asylum in the U.S.

The residents say they have filed a motion for an emergency temporary restraining order against the city of Chicago and Chicago Public Schools to prevent a migrant respite center from opening in the former South Shore High School building.

Cook County Board President Toni Preckwinkle was unsparing in her criticism of Texas Republican Gov. Greg Abbott for continuing to bus thousands of migrants to Democratic cities such as Chicago and New York.

“We shouldn’t have to come to this point, but here we are,” Mayor Lori Lightfoot said. “Even in my final days as mayor it is important that we step up and respond to this burgeoning crisis.”

More than 8,000 migrants have arrived in Chicago since last summer when Texas Gov. Greg Abbott first started sending migrants to the city. However, citywide efforts are reaching a tipping point with limited resources and shelters at capacity.

Dozens of residents from the area and neighboring communities attended the capacity event. According to the city, the plan is to use the first floor of the former high school, giving 500 asylum seekers a space to stay temporarily as local efforts continue to find shelter for them.

The Mexican Consulate in Chicago is partnering with the government of Jalisco to offer Mexican and Jalisco-inspired dishes, traditional dances and music, children’s workshops and much more.

Johnson, who will replace Lightfoot in less than two weeks, said he would consult with the South Shore community before making any final decisions on how to address a renewed surge of immigrants being sent to the city from Texas and other states along the southern border.

City officials are calling this a humanitarian crisis, with stretched resources and few housing options, now that more than 8,000 migrants have arrived.

Chicago officials say they are having a hard time finding places for migrants to stay, with dozens now sleeping at police facilities.