1,000 care packages await migrants who may arrive in Wilmette in advance of DNC

Though no migrant buses have arrived in Wilmette for months, local volunteers are staying ready.

Wilmette residents in coordination with the nonprofit Service and Learning Together, out of Highland Park, recently put together 1,000 Take Care Packages to support migrants if and when they arrive.

The initiative was spurred by Texas Gov. Greg Abbott’s promise, one he reaffirmed during the Republican National Convention in July, to continue to send migrant buses to sanctuary cities, including Chicago, which is hosting the Democratic National Convention from Monday-Thursday, Aug. 19-22. According to City of Chicago data, more than 45,000 migrants have arrived in the city from Texas since August 2022.

When Abbott’s administration began sending migrants en masse to the area, they traveled directly to Chicago; however, in November 2023, the City of Chicago began to regulate the growing influx of migrants through policy and a new “shelter stay” policy. 

Many buses were then sent to suburbs with city-bound train service, such as those in the North Shore. The change led municipalities to pass independent policies concerning the buses’ arrivals. In the North Shore, the Village of Winnetka was the first to pass ordinances that regulated unscheduled, one-way bus dropoffs. Highland Park and Glencoe followed. Wilmette, as well as Glen Ellyn in the western suburbs, soon became the main Chicagoland destination for many migrant buses.

Nearly as long as the community has welcomed and supported migrants, Wilmette volunteers and SaLT have provided them with essential items for their transition to Chicagoland.

The Take Care Packages include water, non-perishable food, personal care products, first-aid kits, warm clothing, baby items, and children’s comfort items, such as books, games and stuffed animals.

Find more information on how to donate needed items on the Take Care Packages website.

The number of migrant buses arriving in Wilmette picked up in the early spring. Approximately 50 buses dropped off migrants at the Wilmette Metra station between January and April, but more than half of those buses arrived in a three-week stretch. Citing stretched resources, the Village of Wilmette adopted policies — centering on drop-off times — to regulate the buses as well.

With the local policy in place as well as a federal order limiting migrant crossings at the border, no migrants have arrived in Wilmette since May 31, officials said. And far fewer are arriving daily in Chicago than in the spring, according to the data.

Though Wilmette, Chicago and others are prepared for an influx of migrants in advance of the DNC, officials have tempered their expectations. Village Manager Mike Braiman said the village is not expecting an immediate surge in migrant arrivals.

“There has been a significant downtrend in border crossing per Chicago (Office of Emergency Management),” he said, “so current projections did not envision a large waive of migrant buses to Chicago at this time.”

Still, SaLT is prepared.

Heather Oliver, a Wilmette volunteer who helps lead the local SaLT efforts, said the 1,000 care packages can support up to 20 buses. And if the surge does not happen, or is less dramatic than initially anticipated, Oliver and company are in contact with other area nonprofits that could and would use the supplies.

Volunteers gathered and organized supplies — from toothbrushes to body wipes to nutritional bars — and again met to fill the packages — all 1,000 of them — and have them ready to go.

Oliver said every time her team puts out a call for donations or for a packing project, the Wilmette community always steps up.

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