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

Chicago police officers will be asking any individual arriving at the airport through the Blue Line among 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 can not supply proof will be turned away.

“In order to supply 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 because 2020. As a safe place, O’Hare does not enable 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 men and women choosing up or dropping off travelers at the airport, but the agency stated “all CTA shoppers exiting the Blue Line station” throughout 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 additional interest in current months right after the quantity of unhoused men and women in search of shelter at the airport drew national interest and criticism.

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

“We have taken and will continue to take the methods that are vital to move men and women out of the airports,” she stated then. “The airports are a extremely distinct 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 although the quantity of men and women in search of shelter at O’Hare in the winter months generally increases, the improve has been larger lately.

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

Having said that, the airport agency stated enforcement of the policy was renewed for the reason that 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. Like a cadre of officers stationed at the O’Hare Blue Line quit inside the airport. They have been noticed asking men and women coming into the airport through the Blue Line to show their airline tickets or function IDs, even prior to ten p.m.