Greater than two dozen migrant shelters will shut within the subsequent two months, together with the mega-shelter at Floyd Bennett Discipline because the movement of migrants into town slows, Metropolis Corridor introduced Tuesday.
Migrant households dwelling on the Floyd Bennett Discipline shelter, situated in southern Brooklyn, will likely be moved out by Jan. 15 although the location gained’t be completely wound down till March, in keeping with metropolis authorities sources.
The transfer to shut the controversial shelter is the newest signal of town’s migrant disaster cutting down and was cherred by advocates who feared the Trump’s administration might use that web site to accommodate migrants focused for deportation.
In whole, town will likely be shuttering 25 migrant housing websites by March, together with a shelter at an unused hangar at JFK, the Stratford Arms web site on the Higher West Aspect and the Randall’s Island tent web site, in keeping with Mayor Adams’ workplace.
The closures mark a turning level for town’s migrant disaster. The Large Apple has seen its migrant inhabitants in shelters lower for 22 weeks straight, now reaching its lowest level since summer time 2023, in keeping with Metropolis Corridor. Nonetheless, tens of 1000’s of migrants stay within the metropolis’s care.
With the incoming Trump’s administration menace of mass deportations, officers and advocates had frightened Floyd Bennett Discipline, which is throughout the metropolis’s bounds however on federal land managed by the Nationwide Park Service, could possibly be prey to federal immigration officers trying to spherical up migrants.
The eating space within the migrant shelter at Floyd Bennett Discipline in Brooklyn is pictured on Monday, Oct. 30, 2023. (Theodore Parisienne for New York Every day Information)
Hellerman’s mutual assist group has labored alongside the roughly 2,000 migrants dwelling on the web site for the previous yr, serving to present clothes, suitcases, meals and different requirements to the households dwelling on the web site.
After Trump’s victory, the group lobbied metropolis and state elected officers to close down the location earlier than Trump got here into workplace, fearing the location’s location on federal land would make these residing on it susceptible to deportation. The closure comes 5 days earlier than Trump’s scheduled inuaguration.
“In preparation for the president-elect’s plans to implement mass deportations nationwide, we are closely monitoring these closures and transfers to ensure new arrivals’ access to shelter and protection from any potential federal immigration enforcement dragnets,” Authorized Support and Coalition for the Homeless mentioned in a joint assertion after Metropolis Corridor’s announcement.
Migrants stroll from their non permanent shelter at Floyd Bennett Discipline, a former airfield in Brooklyn, on Jan. 4, 2024 in New York Metropolis. (Photograph by Spencer Platt/Getty Photographs)
In an announcement asserting the closures on Tuesday, Mayor Adams credited town’s 30- and 60-day shelter keep limits and case administration efforts and mentioned town will search for extra websites to shut.
“Thanks to our smart management strategies, we’ve turned the corner, and this additional slate of shelter closures we’re announcing today is even more proof that we’re managing this crisis better than any other city in the nation,” Adams mentioned in an announcement.
The Floyd Bennett web site has come underneath hearth from advocates because it opened due to its location on a distant former airfield removed from faculties and its placement in a flood-prone space.
Authorized Support and Coalition for the Homeless mentioned they welcome the closure however will likely be watching to make sure kids’s training shouldn’t be disrupted: “We are mindful of the disruption it causes to the families we serve, who above all else are longing for stability,” the organizations wrote.
College buses line as much as evacuate migrants from a facility at Floyd Bennett Discipline in Brooklyn on Tuesday, January 9, 2024, throughout a tough storm. (Gardiner Anderson for New York Every day Information)
Jennifer Pringle, who directs Advocates for Youngsters’s college students in non permanent housing portfolio, mentioned that shifting shelter placements and frequent strikes makes children’ training “horribly disrupted.” She frightened that college students dwelling at Floyd Bennett Discipline, who’ve been exempt from 60-day shelter keep limits, will likely be destabilized by relocating mid-schoolyear.
“So as the city closes Floyd Bennett Field, it’s going to be really important that families know kids can stay in their own schools, that there’s busing available,” Pringle mentioned. “… Kids’ education should not be left on the sidelines as the city moves ahead with these changes.”
Initially Revealed: December 10, 2024 at 1:39 PM EST
