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By Meyer Wolfsheim
In an exclusive report from the New York Post, dozens of frustrated New Yorkers gathered outside a massive migrant shelter in Brooklyn on Sunday, demanding that City Hall reject the renewal of the controversial lease for the troubled 2,000-bed facility. The shelter, located on federal parkland at Floyd Bennett Field, has become a flashpoint for local outrage, with community members, elected officials, and veterans joining forces to protest its continued operation.
Led by a caravan of more than 30 vehicles, the demonstrators assembled outside the former airfield in Marine Park, a location now repurposed as a shelter for asylum seekers. This rally is just the latest in a series of protests against the encampment, with locals expressing concerns over the shelter’s impact on their community. State Assemblywoman Jaime Williams (R-Brooklyn) spoke out during the event, criticizing the presence of the migrants in the area.
“We have these migrants coming in, door knocking, stealing packages, you know, soliciting everywhere in front of our supermarkets, playing at the heartstrings of people,” Williams told the Post. “And this is not what our community is about. Floyd Bennett Field is not a place to house migrants. It’s a flood zone with no infrastructure whatsoever. So when you have them in that type of setting, there is nothing left to do. They’re going to be on the street because they don’t have any jobs.”
The rally comes as the city’s lease with the National Park Service is set to expire on September 14, leaving many residents hopeful that the city will choose not to renew it. In June, a similar caravan and protest were held after repeated complaints from the neighborhood about unruly behavior by some of the migrants. Residents fear the shelter has brought mischief and safety concerns to the once quiet community.
Longtime resident Antonia Natal expressed her support for legal immigration but voiced opposition to the current situation. “I don’t mind if they come in the legal way,” Natal said. “That’s what our country’s about. That’s what our country is built on—many migrants—legal. And I’m supportive of that. But no illegals, no shelters. We can’t. It’s going to damage the economy here, the housing market here, everything.”
Curtis Sliwa, founder of the Guardian Angels and a vocal critic of migrant shelters across the five boroughs, has been leading rallies against these shelters, pointing to the mounting costs for taxpayers. “They’re still coming in every day,” Sliwa said during Sunday’s protest. “They’re still checking in at the [city intake center at] the Roosevelt Hotel. And they have complete immunity. You arrest an illegal alien, they get cut loose.”
Floyd Bennett Field is just one of many locations across New York City that have been converted into shelters to accommodate the flood of migrants that have poured into the city since 2022. The site became a shelter as part of a deal brokered by Gov. Kathy Hochul and the Biden administration in August of last year, in a desperate attempt to find housing for the wave of asylum seekers.
Most of these migrants crossed the southern U.S. border and were later sent to “sanctuary cities” like New York. The city has struggled to keep up with the influx.
