The massive influx of immigrants to New York has become a puzzle that the city's mayor, Eric Adams, cannot solve as problems pile up over how to accommodate the undocumented. On the one hand, the parents of the students in whose schools he placed groups of undocumented immigrants angrily protested this decision. In addition, the state Supreme Court blocked the shipment of buses with illegals to counties governed by Republicans. The Democratic politician asked the Biden Administration for "a national solution" and criticized the president's inaction.
Adams, who went from saying that NY "welcomes immigrants with open arms" to lamenting that the city "is destroyed by immigration," continues to look for ways to deal with the massive influx of undocumented immigrants. With the shelters taking on more people than they could handle, the mayor began setting up gymnasiums in at least 20 public schools to serve as temporary shelters.
Safety of minors questioned
This Tuesday, parents and students staged angry protests at the doors of at least three affected schools in Brooklyn. The main complaints are related to the safety of minors, as they feel their well-being is being threatened. "I don't feel safe with grown men with no criminal records or health checks living in our children's school," one of the protesters told The New York Post (NYP).
Was proud to stand with many parents & community leaders in Coney Island to protest the conversion of PS 188 gym into migrant shelter. This school gym belongs to children of Coney Island! 1/2 pic.twitter.com/klO8tZBTjX
— Council Member Ari Kagan (@CMAriKagan47) May 17, 2023
Parents to Adams: "Let them take refuge in your home"
The majority, however, told the mayor to take the undocumented immigrants to his own home: "You have 22,000 square meters; let them take refuge in your house. I bet he has a good stove to cook the migrants a hot meal," chanted several of the protesters. On Tuesday morning, Adams noted that housing immigrants in schools with gymnasiums separate from the main building was an option under consideration. Those claims are contradicted by photographs of immigrants near schools or even inside them.
Parents call 'emergency meeting' over migrant housing plan as busload of migrants arrives in NYC https://t.co/vrkohXIRFg pic.twitter.com/V66C9vQSyv
— Eyewitness News (@ABC7NY) May 17, 2023
The protests prompted city school officials to hold an emergency meeting with parent representatives later that night, according to ABC7. However, no agreement was reached, and protests are expected to continue in the near future.
"NYC has run out of space"
This is not the only bad news the mayor received in connection with this matter. NY State Supreme Court Justice Sandra Sciortino barred the city from continuing to send busloads of immigrants to Orange County. The ruling was received with disappointment from NY leadership which, through the mouth of their spokesman, Fabien Levy, lamented that counties and other constituencies refused to help until the Biden Administration gives a national response to the crisis and announced that they would study all of their legal options. "New York City has run out of space, and we are only asking Orange County to manage approximately ¼ of 1% of asylum seekers who have arrived in New York City, with New York paying for housing, food and services," Levy said.
These controversies come in addition to the NYP exclusive on the eviction of several homeless Americans from various hotels so that immigrants could occupy their rooms.
Homeless among those booted from Yonkers hotel ‘for NYC migrants’ https://t.co/8HmdLutmGp pic.twitter.com/7LP8w8WWcl
— New York Post (@nypost) May 15, 2023
