New York City Mayor Eric Adams is reportedly considering enforcing a curfew at homeless shelters due to complaints, specifically, about migrants. Inhabitants are complaining that migrants shoplift and wander neighborhoods begging for money.
Neighbors who live near the tent shelters in Brooklyn have complained about migrants panhandling and going door-to-door begging for food and clothes.
Additionally, reports of crimes around the shelters, including a fatal stabbing at a tent city on Randall’s Island over the weekend, have raised public safety concerns, the New York Post reported.
The Post quoted Brooklyn resident David Fitzgerald, who described the situation in his Marine Park neighborhood as an “invasion.”
“The Adams administration is considering the plan as the ‘sanctuary’ city continues to wrestle with the influx of tens of thousands of asylum seekers arriving amid a historic surge along the U.S.-Mexico border”, the New York Post reported.
The issue came up during a closed-door briefing with local elected officials. Adams administration officials were asked directly about whether they are considering a curfew at the city’s migrant shelter facilities which are currently housing nearly 70,000 asylum seekers.
Queens Councilwoman Joann Ariola noted that New York City’s migrant shelters are not subject to the curfews that traditional NYC Department of Homeless Services shelters require.
“I think a curfew should be set because homeless people [staying in NYC shelters] have curfews,” Ariola, a Republican, told the Post. “If it’s good enough for homeless New Yorkers it’s good enough for migrants.”
“I see them sitting outside stores … outside the mall and going around to all the houses in the neighborhood, knocking on the door looking for money,” he told the newspaper.
During Thursday’s City Council meeting, Adams administration officials said they are considering the curfew as well as looking at installing metal detectors at migrant shelters but didn’t elaborate further.
The Center Square reports on the specifics of the Big Apple’s migrant crisis:
New York City has seen an influx of more than 130,000 migrants over the past year and has spent more than $1 billion on housing and other needs for migrants. Adams has proposed deep budget cuts to cover those costs, estimating that the city will spend upwards of $10 billion over the next couple of years.
This week, the Adams administration began issuing eviction notices to more than 2,000 migrants who overstayed the city’s 60-day limit on emergency shelter.
