Hundreds of immigrants staying at temporary shelters have been moved to North Side lakefront neighborhoods over the past few days.

The change comes as just as City Colleges campuses — where hundreds have been staying over the summer — prepare to reopen for the fall semester, and as Lollapalooza returns to Grant Park on Thursday.

About 550 immigrants staying at Daley College on the South Side and at Wilbur Wright College on the Northwest Side were moved to the American Islamic College, on the 600 block of West Irving Park Road, according to the Office of Emergency Management and Communications.

According to OEMC, more than 100 people staying at the 1st District police station in the South Loop, about two miles from Grant Park, were moved to the Broadway Armory Park Fieldhouse in Edgewater, a decision that was the subject of community pushback by some residents.

Before the immigrants were moved from the South Loop police station to the North Side shelter, almost 1,000 were staying at police district stations throughout the city. About 5,500 were in city shelters.

Michael Loria | Sun-Times

Since buses sent by Texas Gov. Greg Abbott fueled an influx of migrants arriving in Chicago last spring, the city has grappled with how to best shelter them. Shelters and welcome centers have cropped up throughout the summer, but some are running out of resources and struggling to meet demand.

Allegations of sexual misconduct involving migrants have surfaced against police officers, including one who allegedly impregnated a teenage girl who immigrated to the city. The accusations drew the criticism of activists who decried the ability of the Civilian Office of Police Accountability to investigate such claims.

Now migrants are being moved once again as activists and the city work to keep migrants housed and safe with limited resources.

Josimar Goyo and Brayan Hernandez, a pair of relatives who made the trip from Venezuela together, were among those the new American Islamic College shelter in Uptown from Wilbur Wright. They were moved Monday, said Hernandez, 20, and had taken a liking to it so far.

“It’s really great here,” said Goyo, 26. “There’s good food, hot water, I like it.”

The biggest improvement the pair said was the improved privacy of moving from rooms shared by hundreds of people at a time to rooms shared among a handful of families.

The move from the South Loop police station drew some attention after a video circulated on Twitter of city workers disposing of beds and other donations inside a city garbage truck, but Jose Antonio Montesinos, a lead volunteer at the station, said that was expected.

“The city had to do it because we’re not able to move all the crap that people drop off there,” Montesinos said.

In response to a request for comment on the emptying of the South Loop police station, a spokesperson for OEMC said that it aligned with the city’s goal of moving immigrants from police station and into shelters, but Montesinos noted that OEMC emptied the same station ahead of NASCAR’s Chicago street race in early July, Grant Park’s most recent big event.

He said he had been volunteering since March and that people dropping off donations at police stations had good intentions but could be more helpful if they coordinated with volunteers on what was needed.

Michael Loria | Sun-Times

He said the volunteers working at police stations planned to open a “free store” soon where immigrants could come and choose donated items to take home with them.

Onomi, a native of Venezuela who gave only her first name, was among those moved from the police station to the North Side field house. It was her third place to stay in Chicago, after first being at O’Hare International Airport and then the station.

“I’m grateful to have a roof over my head,” she said. “But I’m tired.”

She complained about her and her daughter being shunted around without a regular chance to shower or have hot food. She doubted she would be able to sleep at the new temporary shelter either, showing a reporter a photo of a room lined with cots.

Another immigrant at the field house was also dismayed by the moves but didn’t mind the light packing they were allowed on the move to the North Side.

“We brought nothing because we have nothing,” she said with a laugh.

Michael Loria is a staff reporter at the Chicago Sun-Times via Report for America, a not-for-profit journalism program that aims to bolster the paper’s coverage of communities on the South Side and West Side.