by Iman Milner
November 13, 2023
Migrant families being bussed to remote Brooklyn location refused to stay at the “tent city” site amid growing crisis in NYC.
Migrant families being moved to a tent city at Brooklyn’s remote Floyd Bennet Field on Nov. 12 refused to remain on the temporary site, citing the accommodations to be “inhumane,” Daily News reports. As New York City has become flooded with migrants, officials have started to seek alternative options to the area’s hotels, shelters, and places of worship that have acted as spaces of refuge.
Nearly 100 people were bussed to the “tent city,” the outlet reports.
Brooklyn Assemblywoman Jamie Williams was on site as the MTA bus arrived to drop off migrants, who then boarded the vehicle again, demanding to be taken elsewhere.
“Families got off of the bus and saw the accommodations,” she said. “When they realized they wouldn’t be staying at a hotel they refused to stay and demanded to be taken somewhere else. They were not told in advance that they would be going to a tent city.” Williams reportedly told workers at the Floyd Bennet Field to inform Mayor Eric Adams that his treatment of migrants in the city was unacceptable. “No woman or children should be having to be bussed around like this,” she said. “Let them know that this is not the place for you guys to be — in an isolated area.”
NYC officials have called the influx of migrants a crisis as space was already limited in the city. With an estimated 61 million tourists expected to visit the Big Apple by the year’s end, migrants have few options as the temperatures rapidly decrease.
“With more than 65,600 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,” mayoral spokesperson Kayla Mamelak said. City officials have openly opposed Mayor Adams’ treatment of migrants in the city, with the Floyd Bennet Field decision being the latest to draw ire from leaders. Williams and Queens Councilmember Joann Ariola have sued the city and the state and asked a judge to shut down the site.
“This is a remote location, far from any transportation hubs, and lacking in any real infrastructure, and it is simply not suitable for habitation,” she said. “We’ve been told that, of the handful that initially opted to stay, most of them are now requesting to be transferred as well.
