‘Proof of Airport Business’ Expected to Enter O’Hare Throughout Overnight Hours From Blue Line, Officials Say – NBC Chicago

These arriving by CTA train at O’Hare Airport throughout overnight hours want to offer proof they have “business” there to be permitted to enter, officials stated.

Chicago police officers will be asking any person arriving at the airport by way of the Blue Line in between ten p.m. and four a.m. for “proof of airport company,” such as an airline boarding pass or an employee badge, the Chicago Division of Aviation stated in a statement.

These who can not offer proof will be turned away.

“In order to offer a safe atmosphere at O’Hare International Airport, CDA safety personnel function with the Chicago Police Division to enforce current laws, which make clear that it is unlawful to be at Chicago’s airports without the need of any airport company,” the airport agency stated.

The Aviation Division emphasized that the policy has been in location due to the fact 2020. As a safe place, O’Hare does not permit members of the public to be at the airport unless they are flying in or out or function there.

It was unclear no matter if the policy applied to people today choosing up or dropping off travelers at the airport, but the agency stated “all CTA consumers exiting the Blue Line station” throughout these hours would be asked to show proof of company.

But enforcement of that policy appeared to have waned earlier in the winter ahead of it was provided added consideration in current months just after the quantity of unhoused people today in search of shelter at the airport drew national consideration and criticism.

In February, Mayor Lori Lightfoot acknowledged the seriousness of the problem but argued that conservative media had blown the concern out of proportion.

“We have taken and will continue to take the measures that are vital to move people today out of the airports,” she stated then. “The airports are a extremely distinctive location than on the street beneath an underpass.”

Haymarket Center’s O’Hare Outreach system, which connects these experiencing homelessness and in search of shelter at the airport with sources, has stated that even though the quantity of people today in search of shelter at O’Hare in the winter months usually increases, the boost has been larger not too long ago.

“We’re gonna continue inside the bounds of the law to do what is vital to offer these people with assistance — but elsewhere. They can not be in our airports,” the mayor stated.

Even so, the airport agency stated enforcement of the policy was renewed mainly because the Blue Line resumed 24-hour service to and from the airport final month. Previously, trains did not run from O’Hare to the Rosemont station from midnight to four a.m., a policy which began throughout the pandemic.

An elevated police presence could be noticed at the airport in February. Which includes a cadre of officers stationed at the O’Hare Blue Line cease inside the airport. They had been noticed asking people today coming into the airport by way of the Blue Line to show their airline tickets or function IDs, even ahead of ten p.m.