New York City is imposing a curfew on several migrant shelters after complaints from the nearby communities about the newcomers’ behavior, including panhandling.
Starting Tuesday, Mayor Eric Adams imposed an 11 p.m. to 6 a.m. curfew at four migrant shelters holding about 1,900 people, just a small fraction of the tens of thousands of illegal migrants who have streamed into the city recently.
For now, the curfew only affects four shelters — the JFK respite center, and one on 35th Street in Astoria, along with the Lincoln shelter on 110th Street in Manhattan and the Stockton Street shelter in Brooklyn.
However, the mayor is reportedly considering expanding the curfew to up to 200 total shelters and respite centers.
“Part of it is just sort of to help us better manage things at the site. Part of it is community feedback,” New York City Emergency Management Commissioner Zach Iscol told CBS.
Panhandling, shoplifting, knocking on doors asking for clothing, and violent episodes were some of the complaints from residents about the newly arrived migrants at the shelters.
“My constituents are terrified,” City Council member Joann Ariola told FOX 5 New York. “They have people that they don’t know at their doorbell. They usually have a child with them. They have their telephone, their iPhone and on it, it says, in English, ‘I’m a migrant from Floyd Bennett Field, please give me money.’ It’s very, very concerning because at times, they find them on their property.”
Earlier this month, Adams admitted that some migrants are engaging in a “robbery pattern.”
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About 161,000 migrants, mostly from Venezuela, have flooded into New York City since the spring of 2022, and about half of them are still in the city’s care. The crisis has forced the city to open new shelters and slash the budget of every city agency, even including police, public schools, and sanitation.
“This policy will allow for more efficient capacity management for migrants in the city’s care,” a city spokesperson said in a statement.
Adams predicted that the influx of migrants would ultimately cost the city as much as $12 billion.
The new curfew rule comes as some migrant families were evicted this week under Adams’ new policy requiring migrants to reapply for shelter after 60 days, a rule meant to encourage those living in the city’s packed shelters to find new living arrangements. Some migrants said they planned to reapply for shelter, while others said they were meeting up with family members in other cities.