NEW YORK (1010 WINS/WCBS 880) – The first two groups of migrant families were bused to a controversial shelter at Floyd Bennett Field in Brooklyn on Sunday. They promptly left.
The shelter, which the city erected on an inactive airfield on Barren Island, is made up of four dormitory tents that are designed to accommodate up to 2,000 migrant families.
The controversial migrant shelter the city erected on Floyd Bennett Field.Darius Radzius
Following a report from the New York Daily News that the shelter could open as soon as Sunday, a press secretary for the mayor's office confirmed to 1010 WINS/WCBS 880 that families did in fact begin moving in.
But when the first two buses of families arrived at Floyd Bennett Field, they left immediately and in frustration. Some claimed that they were never told where they were being brought.
"It's just like a game of chess. They came in, and then they quickly moved them to the next bus," Assemblywoman Jaime Williams told 1010 WINS/WCBS 880.
New York City's right-to-shelter mandate is challenged by an influx of migrants arriving in the city, something Mayor Eric Adams has said is straining the city's resources and has left officials with limited options.
"We are out of room. It's not if people will be sleeping on the streets, it's when. We are at full capacity," Adams said of the crisis last month.
There were about two dozen migrant families brought to the shelter and promptly bused away, and Williams says that these types of placements for are untenable.
"Some of them come as far as from the Bronx. They work out there, and their kids go to school in the Bronx. So having your child in this end of Brooklyn here, where there's nothing, transit desert, it's just not compatible," Williams said.
The designation of Floyd Bennett Field as a shelter has been a source of controversy since its announcement, with legal action being taken from City Councilwoman Joann Ariola who is suing the city in an attempt to halt the shelter use.
According to a statement from the mayor's office in September, over 116,000 migrants have arrived in New York City seeking asylum since last spring.
