Harold Hutchison
Fox News host Tucker Carlson and a Chicago alderman ripped Democratic Mayor Lori Lightfoot Wednesday as homeless people moved into O’Hare Airport.
“The so-called homeless have moved into Chicago international airport, O’Hare. Vagrants living in the terminal, sleeping by the baggage claims in one of the biggest and most famous airports in the world. As one custodian at O’Hare put it, ‘It’s out of control, none of us feel safe,’” Carlson, an honorary member of the Daily Caller News Foundation board, said.
Travelers posted photos of homeless people camping in the airport to social media, the New York Post reported. The number of homeless encountered at the airport rose from 431 in 2021 to 618 in 2022, according to the Post, citing a Haymarket Center report.
WATCH:
“We’ve seen this beautiful gateway to Chicago been overrun by the homeless where every night 200 to 300 homeless individuals come off public transportation and set up encampments here, baggage claim and throughout all five terminals,” Democratic Alderman Raymond Lopez told Carlson.
“They’re not just urinating in the hallways, they’re taking baths in the toilets, they’re making a mockery of what Chicago is here,” Lopez continued. “We understand homelessness is a problem we must address, but making O’Hare airport a homeless shelter for hundreds of people on a daily basis, when we’re trying to welcome people here, when we’re trying to encourage tourism, trying to bring back the business clientele, bring back families to our city, and to only have them greeted by hundreds of homeless, with mental health issues, maybe armed, maybe might not even be clothed, that doesn’t institute confidence in our mayor in our city.”
Lightfoot is running for re-election as mayor of Chicago, but polling released Feb. 8 showed she was in third place in a three-way dead heat. Several challengers criticized Lightfoot over the city’s skyrocketing crime rates during a Jan. 31 candidate forum.
Lightfoot did not immediately respond to a request for comment from the DCNF.
All content created by the Daily Caller News Foundation, an independent and nonpartisan newswire service, is available without charge to any legitimate news publisher that can provide a large audience. All republished articles must include our logo, our reporter’s byline and their DCNF affiliation. For any questions about our guidelines or partnering with us, please contact licensing@dailycallernewsfoundation.org.