Illegal migrants refuse to stay at migrant shelter in New York City-"We didn't know we were coming here"

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demonstration by Mortaza Shahed is licensed under Unsplash unsplash.com

NEW YORK CITY- One might think that illegal “migrants” permitted to enter and then stay in our country might express some gratitude for that gift. If that is a belief you hold, you would be wrong, at least in the case of New York City. 

The New York Post reports that a busload of illegals were bused to a makeshift tent city located at Floyd Bennett Field, which used to be a Brooklyn-based airfield, on Sunday. They were having no part of it, however. 

The Post reports that dozens of families arrived at the remote housing site courtesy of Mayor Eric Adams shortly after 12:30 pm. They decided they didn’t want to stay there and returned to the bus to return to their previous housing. 

“We weren’t told where we were going,” one of the illegal migrant fathers complained to The Post. “I work in the Bronx. My kids go to school in the Bronx. For us to live out here is ridiculous.” 

Think of an analogy. You invite a homeless person to live in your house, and they complain that you don’t have HBO and an air-fryer. Gratitude for being allowed to live in a warm house? Absolutely not. This is the same with these illegals, who came into our country uninvited (well, at least officially) and then proceeded to complain when they were inconvenienced by being housed in an inconvenient location. You have to admit, they’ve really embraced this whole entitlement shtick. 

The inconvenienced father announced, “We’re going back!” 

Yet another father who was bused to Floyd Bennett Field announced he was returning to the Roosevelt Hotel in Midtown Manhattan, where the city processes illegal migrants. 

 “They are going to take us back to the train so we can go back to 45th Street,” he said. “We didn’t know we were coming here. They just said they were taking us to a shelter.

“I cannot stay here,” he said. “This is crazy.” 

The city expects to house some 2,000 illegal migrants at the tent city, which has been widely criticized for what critics say is its remote location to alleged fire safety concerns. 

One official who visited the site is State Assemblywoman Jaime Williams (D-Brooklyn), whose district includes Floyd Bennett. She said she spoke to a man who identified himself as an official with the city’s Health and Hospitals system who told her he had spoken to some of the illegal migrants. 

“When I asked him why did they leave immediately like that, he said the people, they were scared,” Williams said. “They weren’t sure what they were doing here. They don’t want to be here, and they asked to leave. 

“They said, ‘It’s so isolated, how could I possibly get back and forth to work?’ or, ‘Getting my children to school from here would be insane.’ So they all asked to leave.” 

Williams added she felt it was “a disaster waiting to happen.” 

“It’s one of the coldest days so far. There’s going to be frost tonight,” Williams said. “It’s not the ideal location for anyone to live. There’s no supermarket. There’s no infrastructure.” 

We hear it’s warm in Mexico and Central America this time of year…just saying. 

“I’m going to reach out to the Legal Aid Society and the mayor and the governor and ask them to revoke the lease on this site,” Williams continued. 

Meanwhile, a spokesman for the Adams administration said that despite the objections of some, many, including a second busload that arrived Sunday afternoon, opted to stay. 

“As we have said time and time again, more than 139,000 asylum seekers have moved through our intake system since the spring of 2022, all of whom have been offered vital services,” the spokesman said in a statement. 

“But with more than 65,000 migrants still currently in our care, and thousands more continuing to arrive every week, we have used every possible corner of New York City and are quite simply out of good options to shelter migrants,” he said. 

None of this should have come as a surprise to any of the illegal migrants, who were warned by city officials there was no room for them. Meanwhile, a city source said that if those who left decide to change their minds, they will be allowed to return. 

One of the bus drivers said he was surprised when the illegals refused to stay at the tent city. 

“We were shocked when they turned around and left–shocked,” the driver told The Post. “Only a few people stayed. We didn’t see that coming.” 

The Post reported that fire officials had previously warned the former airfield is not suited to house anyone due to its remote location, with fire hydrants located a half-mile away and largely “not reliable.” 

Moreover, residents at the tent city will be allowed to have e-bikes–which many use to work food delivery jobs–at the site. The bikes are powered by lithium-ion batteries, which are susceptible to fire and have caused deadly fires in the Big Apple. That has raised the concerns of fire inspectors. 

In addition, two FDNY satellite units that would theoretically respond to a fire at the field are also responsible for responding to the entire borough of Brooklyn, raising further concerns. 

On a national level, some federal lawmakers have also expressed concern about housing migrants at the facility, including U.S. Rep. Bruce Westerman (R-Ark.), who chairs the House National Resources Committee. 

The congressman noted the former airfield, now a national park, is not “a place to temporarily or permanently encamp persons experiencing a lack of housing,” regardless of “personal or political beliefs on immigration or migrant policy.” 

Another voice heard complaining about using the facility is former New York governor Andrew Cuomo, who called the decision to use Floyd Bennet as defying “common sense.” 

Adams, however, has ensured that precautions have been taken to ensure safety at the site, including an outdoor area for storing the e-bikes and shuttle service to all five boroughs. 

Officials are also working on a plan to ensure migrant children housed at the site have bus transportation to get to classes at public schools that are a distance away from the site. 

The Post noted that Adams is left with little alternative to deal with the influx of illegal migrants who have flooded into the city since Biden became president in 2021. The city has been slammed across the board by its decision to house illegals in closed schools, hotels, and other facilities that have been turned into emergency shelters, and Adams has begged the Biden administration for help. 

State officials, led by Gov. Kathy Hochul (D), have also pleaded with the White House to do more for the state and New York City. 

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