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

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

These who cannot deliver proof will be turned away.

“In order to deliver 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 with out any airport small business,” the airport agency stated.

The Aviation Division emphasized that the policy has been in location considering the fact that 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 irrespective of whether the policy applied to people today selecting up or dropping off travelers at the airport, but the agency stated “all CTA shoppers exiting the Blue Line station” through these hours would be asked to show proof of small business.

But enforcement of that policy appeared to have waned earlier in the winter prior to it was provided added consideration in current months soon after the quantity of unhoused people today looking for 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 challenge out of proportion.

“We have taken and will continue to take the actions that are essential 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 looking for shelter at the airport with sources, has stated that although the quantity of people today looking for shelter at O’Hare in the winter months constantly increases, the improve has been greater not too long ago.

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

Having said that, the airport agency stated enforcement of the policy was renewed due to the fact 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 through the pandemic.

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