Residents in a Brooklyn neighborhood are voicing their fury after city leaders sanctioned an all-male shelter for illegal immigrants next to a K-12 Christian school, according to a report from the Daily Caller.
New York City officials opened a 400-bed migrant shelter in Gowanus, Brooklyn, less than 1,000 feet away from a school. Local residents claim they were not given adequate notice of the shelter and felt it was inappropriate to house illegal immigrants so close to a school.
The principal of City Life Academy, a private Christian school located near the shelter, said he believes that city officials avoided telling the public about the development of the migrant shelter.
“We were not given any transparency,” Principal Jeffrey Reed said. “They knew there would be pushback and they knew if they had gone through the correct channels or the proper channels, that probably never would’ve opened.”
Independent Women’s Forum, a non-profit that focuses on women’s issues, claims that the city avoided regular protocols to ensure the creation of the migrant shelter. New York City officials reportedly did not follow health protocols for environmental testing, violated building codes, and allowed for an expedited process to open the facility.
“I didn’t know about the shelter until two months before that meeting [informing residents that the shelter would be opening]. And it had been in the works for almost a year,” said Irina Edelstein. Edelstein is a mother of three, an immigrant, and her children attend the nearby Christian school.
“I am not against immigration, and I think many of these people who are here legally, they will make a life for themselves; they will be positive, good contributors to this country,” Edelstein said. “However, there is a difference between immigration and invasion.”
The migrant crisis is seemingly overwhelming New York City. The city spent $1.45 billion on migrants in fiscal year 2023.
