(WBBM NEWSRADIO)—Tinley Park has become the latest Chicago-area community to enact a crackdown on bus companies that try to drop off passengers without warning.
The village board on Tuesday adopted an ordinance that grants police the power to ticket bus operators or impound their vehicles if drivers attempt to make an unscheduled stop and unload passengers. Bus operators must seek permission from police beforehand and meet several requirements, or face financial penalties of $750 per passenger and potential criminal charges.
Village manager Pat Carr says no migrants have been dropped off in Tinley Park at this point.
“Shame on the bus companies that are taking these individuals on this long journey, not knowing what their fate is going to be,” Carr tells WBBM Newsradio.
The new ordinance also requires bus companies to provide background checks of their passengers. Carr says that’s a “logical step,” saying the village would not know if any of the passengers has a criminal background or was sick.
He noted Tinley Park police will not be engaging with the passengers and said the village has no animosity toward them.
“It’s the bus company that are trafficking these people up here,” Carr said.
The measure follows recent actions by suburban Rosemont and the Chicago City Council to regulate the continuing procession of buses filled with asylum seekers coming from Texas and other Southern states. Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson says some bus companies have failed to drop off migrants at designated sites where the city can begin the intake process.
He says in some cases bus operators are dropping off migrants outside the city and leaving them with train fare to proceed to Chicago. Lately, Johnson said, migrants are arriving with illnesses.
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