New York Parents Protest Migrant Housing in School Gyms

At least six New York City public school gyms are expected to be used to house migrants and some parents are not happy about it.

Parents were outside of P.S. 172 in Brooklyn early Tuesday morning to protest.

"We care about asylum-seekers, and we’re proud our city is a ‘sanctuary city’ — but housing asylum seekers on school grounds is absolutely unacceptable,” Virginia Vu, a PTA member and parent at Brooklyn’s MS 577 told the New York Post.

The gym sits right next to the school yard where children as young as 4-years-old play, WABC reported. A letter to parents from the school said that housing the migrants "should not impact school operations, nor will the families have access to any other part of the school where students and staff are," the outlet reported.

Local news site The City reported the decision to use school gyms came with little notice to parents, school administrators and local elected officials. 

New York City Mayor Eric Adams said the city has opened 140 sites as emergency shelters and eight currently operating large-scale humanitarian relief centers.

The city says it is offering shelter to more than 65,000 asylum seekers.