NYC Migrant Families Refusing to Stay in Tent City Erected in Distant Corner of Brooklyn: Report

Some of the hundreds of migrants in the care of New York City were bussed to a shelter in a remote part of Brooklyn Saturday, took one look at the location and got back on the bus.

Around 100 people were sent to Floyd Bennett Field, making up just over 20 families, but just 13 groups stayed after realizing how far away they were from workplaces and schools.

"I have four kids, how are they going to send us to a shelter like this? It's impossible...  My kids go to school in Manhattan, how am I supposed to bring my four kids to Manhattan?" one migrant father of four told News 12.

The former airfield-turned-national-park was selected as a temporary housing site as New York struggles to cope with the thousands of new arrivals the city has seen since spring 2022. Two thousand people were expected to be housed there.

Many migrants have been housed in Manhattan or in shelters far closer to the city's center and have found work in those areas. Their children have started at schools in Manhattan or the Bronx.

"I'm grateful for what they've given me, but I can't stay here," a mother told ABC 7 News.

The use of the field as a temporary shelter has drawn widespread criticism, including from elected officials. Assembly Member Jamie Williams and Council Member Joann Ariola are part of a lawsuit against the scheme.

"You don't put someone in such a place where there's no supermarkets close by, the schools are almost three miles away, there's nothing here," Assembly Member Williams told News 12.

Ariola also told the outlet that city hall was aware migrants were unhappy.

“They were aware migrants weren’t happy with the location and were getting back on the bus," she said. "The location is not near school districts or transportation.

"City Hall noted they cannot force migrants to stay at Floyd Bennett Field, but once they’re back at the intake center, they would be told they were at the end of the line. It would be Floyd Bennett Field or nothing.”

Mayor Eric Adams visited Floyd Bennett Field Sunday night, posting a video to X in which he explained each tent could house 500 people and that accommodations would be made for children's schooling.

"This is not, you know, the best conditions but we're managing a crisis and we can't say it any better that we need help," the mayor said.

Earlier this month, the Legal Aid Society called on Adams to abandon his plan for Floyd Bennett Field, raising serious safety concerns and questioning the facilities available to migrants - from bathrooms to computers.

“Placing families with children at Floyd Bennett Field is a recipe for disaster, and the facility falls woefully short of providing the accommodations that this vulnerable population needs and deserves,” Adriene Holder, Chief Attorney of the Civil Practice at The Legal Aid Society said in a press release.

“The City must abandon its misguided effort to use Floyd Bennett Field as an option to shelter families with children, and we fear the worst should City Hall continue with this fraught, cruel and patently dangerous plan.”

NYC has some 65,000 migrants in its care currently and is attempting to use sites such as the former airfield to house them, while also trying to speed up work permits and offering free plane tickets for those who want to travel elsewhere, out of the city's care.