Nearly 2,000 migrants being sheltered in a tent shelter in New York City are being transferred to a nearby high school, where the students will have to pivot to remote learning due to the disruption it is causing – sparking outrage from residents and local politicians.
New York City Mayor Eric Adams’ office said it is moving 1,900 migrants from the tent shelter at Floyd Bennett Field for safety reasons due to the incoming storms and potential high winds. According to the New York Daily News, Adams told reporters that it was being done out of an “overabundance of caution.”
“We want to make sure people are safe,” he said.
But it is controversially moving them to James Madison High School, which confirmed it was being used as a “temporary overnight respite center” and would be closed as a result on Wednesday — with students being forced to “pivot” to remote learning as a result.
In a statement, Republican Councilwoman Inna Vernikov called the move “unacceptable,” arguing that Floyd Bennett Field is “not a sustainable housing facility.”
“Our public schools are meant to be places of learning and growth for our children, and were never intended to be shelters or facilities for emergency housing,” she said.
NYC Comptroller Brad Lander, a Democrat, said that placing migrants at the Floyd Bennett Field “highlights the mismanagement and waste of money that is all-too-present in City Hall’s approach to shelter and services for asylum seekers.”
The New York Post reported how the move has infuriated parents of students at the school, with one woman screaming at buses as they arrived: “How does it feel that you kicked all the kids out of school tomorrow!”
Adam’s office told the outlet that the move is a proactive measure to ensure the safety of individuals both living and working at the migrant facility and will “continue until any weather conditions that may arise have stabilized and the facility is once again for living.”
Adams’ office has said that over 160,000 migrants have surged into the “sanctuary” city since the middle of 2022, some of whom have been bused in directly by Texas. Officials have said the city is overwhelmed, with Adams warning the crisis could “destroy” the city.
