Note: The video attached to this article is a Dec. 2023 WGN NEWS report on the Brighton Park migrant shelter.

CHICAGO (WGN) A controversial tent city for migrants that never opened will cost state taxpayers $1.3M despite not being used and Gov. JB Pritzker’s pledge that the state wouldn’t be on the hook.

A Pritzker spokesperson confirms the money has been earmarked to pay the contractor (Page 75, Lines 13, 14).

“GardaWorld sought payment based on its claim that it performed a substantial amount of work at the State’s request,” Pritzker spokesperson Alex Gough told WGN. “The State negotiated and settled that claim in the Court of Claims.”

That appears to contradict what Pritzker told reporters in 2023: “The understanding with GardaWorld is that they will do other work with us, and they knew as they were building this shelter, before the environmental report came in, that it was possible that the environmental report wouldn’t allow the completion of the shelter… so they understood that and were willing to take that liability on – for the state’s contract.” 

The state payment was first reported by the Chicago Tribune which also noted the city spent $1.7M on environmental remediation and a settlement with the property’s owner. 

The location in Chicago’s Brighton Park neighborhood was a lightning rod for tension from the moment Mayor Brandon Johnson green-lit construction in late 2023. Community groups raised concerns about the impact of housing 1,500 migrants in winterized tents on the nine acre site.  They also feared the land was contaminated with environmental toxins . 

However, with police stations over-run by migrants bussed to Chicago by Texas Gov. Greg Abbott (R), Johnson pushed ahead with the tent city plan. Days later, with earth moved and some structures partially assembled, the results of the environmental report came back. The city consultant’s report detailed findings of elevated levels of mercury, lead and arsenic in the soil. 

The tent encampment episode exposed an early rift between Pritzker and Johnson when the mayor started construction on the site before the state had completed an environmental study, even though the work was being done under an emergency contract under the state’s purview.

“The state of Illinois has made a commitment to stand up a shelter and house up to 2,200 people and we are going to continue to collaborate every level of government to make sure that we can meet the demands,” Johnson said at the time.