Video: Chicago youth football players protest getting booted from field house to make room for migrants; march into local meeting wearing their gear to wild cheers

Chicago youth football players showed up in their gear at a community meeting earlier this week to protest getting booted from their field house to make room for migrants — and they were met with wild cheers:

What are the details?

Hundreds of residents from the Chicago neighborhood of Austin showed up at the Amundsen Park’s gymnasium Tuesday night to oppose the city’s decision to turn the park’s field house into a migrant shelter, the Austin Weekly News reported.

The paper added that city and Chicago Park District officials attended the meeting to present the city’s plans but were interrupted several times by shouts and chants from the crowd, such as "seniors need their parks!” and "you work for us!” and most notably, "What about the kids?”

Vernita Miller, an Austin resident and single mother, said she's concerned about the safety of children, telling the panel that "we don’t know who they are,” the paper added.

Miller’s son Lorenzo Doke III — a youth football player for the Windy City Dolphins who's been using Amundsen Park for nearly eight years — told city officials their decision to stop the park’s programming by turning the field house into a shelter is “messing up” prospects for him and his friends, the paper said.

“This field is our future,” Doke III told officials, according to the paper.

Some residents blasted Mayor Brandon Johnson for failing the community that supported him and wondered why he wasn't in attendance, the paper said, adding that no resident who spoke during the meeting expressed support for turning the park facilities into a shelter.

More from the paper:

Amundsen Park was one of 200 locations the city evaluated to shelter migrants, he said. After the meeting, city officials told residents the North Austin park was chosen because it has plumbing, bathrooms and other facilities required for a shelter. If turned into a shelter, migrants would sleep at the gymnasium and use another room in the fieldhouse for services. Park programs and after-school activities would be relocated to nearby parks and public schools, although city officials did not provide additional details to this publication. Chicago Park District officials referred questions to their communications department.

In the wake of the contentious meeting, representatives from the mayor’s office said the city will revisit its decision to shelter 150 to 200 migrants at Amundsen Park, the paper said.

Here's a news report from a local TV station on the meeting:

Chicago migrants: Tempers flare at meeting held to discuss migrant shelter on West Sideyoutu.be

This story has been updated.

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