Parents call 'emergency meeting' over migrant housing plan as busload of migrants arrives in NYC
Despite Mayor Adams admitting this migrant housing plan is drastic, he says the city is out of options. Janice Yu has details.
SUNSET PARK, Brooklyn (WABC) -- Parents and New York City school officials held and "emergency meeting" Tuesday night to protest against the city's migrant housing plan.
The city is now eyeing up to 20 schools with standalone gyms to house migrants, Mayor Eric Adams said in an interview on Tuesday.
The mayor did not reveal all of the locations but the first six appear to be in Brooklyn.
Dozens of parents picketed outside P.S. 172 on Tuesday. They say they want their children to be able to use their school gym for its intended purpose, and that it's not safe to have strangers being housed so close to their kids.
They are expected to protest on Wednesday morning, as well.
Though Adams admitted this new housing plan is a drastic decision, he says the city is out of options.
"Each gym, the 20 gyms that we are looking at, we have not made a final determination on all the gyms, but that we are looking at are separate from the actual school buildings, they are independent from the school buildings, they are not in buildings where schools are," the mayor said.
Officials say 65,000 asylum seekers have come through the city so far, including 4,200 last week alone. Adams said the city expects as many as 15 buses this weekend.
P.S. 172 parents were notified on Sunday by Brooklyn District 15 superintendent, that the gym will be transitioned into a temporary shelter for asylum seekers. P.S. 172's gym sits right next to the schoolyard where children as young as 4 play.
"The students work really hard and we need a break with outside time, recess, and gym and things like that," one student said. Another student expressed fear for their safety.
The other schools in Brooklyn that are being considered for migrant housing include P.S. 188 in Coney Island, P.S. 189 in Crown Heights, as well as P.S. 17, M.S. 577, and P.S. 18, all in Williamsburg.
Parent Aramis Rosa spoke to Eyewitness News reporter Janice Yu about his personal concerns with migrants in his child's school gym.
In a letter sent to parents, obtained by Eyewitness news, school officials promised migrant "individuals and families" would be confined to the school's standalone gym saying: "This should not impact school operations, nor will the families have access to any other part of the school where students and staff are."
But, some parents are still angry, not seeing how it would be possible for school operations to be separate from migrant housing.
"Put them in the people who are elected who put them in place, put them in their backyards because you've dumped on us long enough," one parent said.
Mayor Eric Adams' office released the following statement:
"As we've been saying for months, we are in the midst of a humanitarian crisis, having opened approximately 150 emergency sites, including eight large-scale humanitarian relief centers, to serve more than 65,000 asylum seekers. We received more than 4,200 asylum seekers last week alone and continue to receive hundreds of asylum seekers every day. We are opening emergency shelters and respite centers daily, but we are out of space. As the mayor has said, nothing is off the table as we work to fill our moral mandate, but we should all expect this crisis to affect every city service. We will continue to communicate with local elected officials as we open more emergency sites."
"Obviously these folks need some place to go, but the idea that our kids could lose out on their gymnasium is kind of appalling," another parent said.
Meanwhile a state supreme court judge granted Orange County a temporary restraining order which has stopped Adams for the time being from sending asylum seekers to the county.
"New York City should not be establishing a homeless shelter outside of its borders in Orange County," Orange County Executive Steven M. Neuhaus said. "The city is a self-proclaimed sanctuary city; Orange County is not. We should not have to bear the burden of the immigration crisis that the Federal government and Mayor Adams created, and I will continue to fight for Orange County's residents in regard to this important manner."
According to Orange County Attorney Richard Golden, if any of the 186 asylum seekers leave the two hotels in the Town of Newburgh, New York City is not allowed to send individuals to replace them.
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Source: WABC-TV
