Immigrants living in New York City are upset over a new shelter for illegal migrants as the city continues to see overwhelming numbers of arrivals, according to the New York Post.
The city decided to turn the Sunset Park Recreation Center into a shelter for illegal migrants, which local immigrant populations don’t like, according to the NY Post. As of July 30, more than 107,000 are in city care, of which more than 56,000 are migrants seeking asylum, Deputy Mayor for Health and Human Services Anne Williams-Isom said during a Wednesday press conference.
“People are really upset from the community,” a first-generation Chinese immigrant, who went by her first name Chen, said, according to the New York Post. “All the people use this facility from this community.”
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The recreation center has been closed to the public while it serves as a shelter for illegal migrants, according to Gothamist.
“So right now you take away all the benefit to us and give it to them? What the hell!” Chen said.
Democratic Mayor Eric Adams has emphasized that the city lacks the space for any more migrants and deployed flyers to the southern border relaying that message to those crossing into the U.S.
“Most of the people in this community are immigrants themselves or the children or grandchildren,” Dyker Heights resident Paul Rodriguez said, according to the NY Post.
“Keep in mind that many of the people who are protesting in particular now are people who probably had a much longer, much [more] arduous journey here than any of the ones who are coming now,” he said. “Let’s be honest.”
In recent days, illegal migrants slept outside of the shuttered Roosevelt Hotel, which the city has turned into a center for them. The overwhelming number of migrants has led to the consideration of Central Park to shelter migrants in tents outside, according to Gothamist.
“Now that they’re here, you have to do better than just simply deflecting blame, pointing fingers and saying, ‘It’s all the fault of Washington, and they better fix it for us because we have no more room,’” Rodriguez said of city officials.
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Resident Vincent Lu, 40, said the center has been used by elderly people in the area who are paying members, according to the NY Post.
“All of a sudden they’ve been denied access,” Lu said.
“We collected 100 signatures to show the government that a decision like this that impacts the community, the community should be part of that,” he said. “This is already an overcrowded community. They can’t just do this. And it’s a low-income community, and they put this burden on our community.”
Adams’ office didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment.
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