By Over the past year or so, New York Mayor Eric Adams has warned that the rise in illegal immigration under Joe Biden was threatening the city.
Last fall, for example, The New York Times wrote that “in a sharp escalation over the migrant crisis, Mayor Eric Adams claimed in stark terms that New York City was being destroyed by an influx of 110,000 asylum seekers from the southern border and said that he did not see a way to fix the issue.
‘Let me tell you something New Yorkers, never in my life have I had a problem that I did not see an ending to — I don’t see an ending to this,’ the mayor said on Wednesday night in his opening remarks at a town hall-style gathering in Manhattan. ‘This issue will destroy New York City.’
‘Every community in this city is going to be impacted,’ Mr. Adams said at the meeting. “We have a $12 billion deficit that we’re going to have to cut — every service in this city is going to be impacted. All of us.'”
Now, Brooklyn parents are learning what the mayor meant by “impact.” The city has decided to turn one of its high schools into a shelter for migrants who entered the United States illegally.
It turns out that Democrats think that “remote learning” is not just a useful tool for pandemics but also illegal immigration.
On Tuesday, New York City officials evacuated approximately 1,900 migrants housed in a tent shelter at Brooklyn’s Floyd Bennett Field and moved them to the high school’s gymnasium and auditorium. New York city council minority whip Inna Vernikov, a Republican, condemned the move, saying public schools are not meant “to be shelters or facilities for emergency housing,” reported The National Review.
“This is both unacceptable and was entirely foreseeable, as Floyd Bennett Field is vulnerable to all forms of inclement weather conditions and is not a sustainable housing facility,” Vernikov said in a statement. “As an elected official representing this community, I demand a full stop to using our public schools as a shelter ever again.”
Ahead of the move, students at James Madison High School were dismissed early on Tuesday and told to take Wednesday classes online. “This will agitate local residents, disrupt the entire school environment, and place a tremendous burden on our families, students, school administrators and staff,” Vernikov said. About 4,000 students attend the high school.
The councilwoman also posted a video on X, urging New York City mayor Eric Adams to stop using public schools as emergency shelters and instead bring the migrants to his home, Gracie Mansion.
Rather than blaming Biden for his disastrous border policies, Mayor Adams recently began suing Texas bus companies in an attempt to stop Texas Governor Greg Abbott from sending thousands of migrants who want to go to the Big Apple from the southern border. The sut asked for over $700 million to help cover the costs of caring for migrants transported to the city, including, presumably, putting them into high schools.
“New York City has and will always do our part to manage this humanitarian crisis, but we cannot bear the costs of reckless political ploys from the state of Texas alone,” Adams said in a video accompanying the announcement. “Texas Governor Abbott’s continued use of migrants as political pawns is not only chaotic and inhumane but makes clear he puts politics over people.”
Politico writes that “the move comes a week after Adams announced an executive order restricting how charter buses can drop off migrants in the city. In it, he required bus companies to notify his administration 32 hours in advance and drop off migrants only between 8:30 a.m. and 12 p.m. on weekdays at a specific Manhattan location.
Last week’s order has already caused the bus companies, most of which are chartered by the state of Texas, to circumvent the new rules by dropping migrants off in areas outside New York City’s jurisdiction, such as Edison, N.J. and outside the weekday morning time frame. Since the order, migrants have been dropped off at ‘various NJ TRANSIT train stations,’ a spokesperson for New Jersey’s Gov. Phil Murphy told POLITICO in a statement.
Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson has also criticized Abbott’s policies and issued a similar executive restricting migrant bus drop-offs. That order also led to chartered buses dropping migrants far outside Chicago city limits.”
Both mayors, along with Denver’s mayor, joined in begging the federal government for help despite their refusal to change their city’s sanctuary status.
“Separately, New York City has paid to transport asylum seekers to destinations outside the city. Between March and November, the city spent about $4.6 million to purchase more than 19,300 plane tickets for migrants seeking travel to other cities. A spokesperson for Adams claimed Abbott’s actions differ from the mayor’s because the Texas governor’s program offers migrants little access to food, water and bathrooms and because the mayor’s ticketing process intends to get migrants to their preferred destinations,” Politico continued.
The move to turn James Madison High School into a home for migrants sparked outrage in the local community.
NEW: Locals in Brooklyn are protesting after James Madison High School was closed to students so migrants could setup camp in the high school.
A shouting match took place outside of the school between anti-illegal migrant protesters and pro-illegal migrant protesters.
One angry… pic.twitter.com/6faKtsMtfX
— Collin Rugg (@CollinRugg) January 10, 2024
The choice of school did raise some eyebrows, as well. Did Adams pick the school to “punish” Republicans? The location was one of the few areas in Brooklyn to vote GOP in 2020.
I don't know who needs to see this but the area surrounding James Madison High School voted red in the 2020 Elections. pic.twitter.com/MfHDf7gLqv
— Meredith (@Opportunitweet) January 10, 2024
Schooling has become a major issue in the state of New York. The Board of Education there recently lowered its standards following the rise in poorer schools in the aftermath of school closures and remote learning during the COVID-19 pandemic.
[Read More: Hunter Stunt Doesn’t Go As Planned]
