Outrage after NYC officials use Brooklyn school to house migrants
Community leader and mother of P.S. 188 graduate Lakeisha Bowers and NYC council member Ari Kagan (R) call out Mayor Eric Adams for decision to house migrants at a school
New York City Mayor Eric Adams and city leaders are facing outrage from residents for their decision to place migrants in several public schools.
Lakeisha Bowers, whose son graduated from a Brooklyn school now housing migrants, and NYC council member Ari Kagan (R) joined "Fox & Friends" Tuesday to explain why community members are up in arms.
"It is not a hotel, it's not a shelter. It is a school gym. So the children of Coney Island should not pay for the misguided policies of the Biden administration," said Kagan.
According to New York Post, dozens of migrants will be housed at the gym outside the P.S. 188 Brooklyn elementary school with no timetable on how long the building will be used as an emergency site for migrants.
People stand outside of the Sandra Feldman gymnasium at PS 188 in Coney Island, NY, Tuesday, May 16, 2023. Migrants are currently being housed in the gym at the school. (Jennifer Mitchell for Fox News Digital)
The migrants’ arrival comes just two days after the principal at PS 188 warned the city to choose the school facility as an emergency, temporary site for migrants.
Several migrant families were supposed to be sent to the stand-alone gym adjacent to the rest of the school building late last week, but the plan was put on hold amid community outrage.
"Why a school? That’s the part I don’t get. There’s always other options. A lot of the buildings around here, they have fallout shelters that are spacious, and used for emergencies," said a woman who lives near the Coney Island school.
The Big Apple continues to struggle mightily to house and care for the flood of migrants arriving from across the southern border – with many of them bussed from border states like Texas. Over the last year, tens of thousands of migrants have reached the city.
Bowers described what happened when parents began to learn about the plan, which now reportedly extends to at least six more Brooklyn-area schools.
"It was very hurtful, parents were outraged. We just feel that there wasn't enough time, enough notice for parents. … Friday morning when they came to school is when they found out. And then Saturday night, they were there."
Kagan said he found out about the decision on social media which he said was "not acceptable."
"I was told, oh, like it's not going to be used today. So later on, if you have an influx of more people, then maybe, you know, be ready for everything, anytime. All options are on the table. And then second time again on Sunday, again, learning from concerned parents who called me and said, listen, they already here like and again, I started to call City Hall Office of Emergency Management, and they said, Yeah, we told you so on Friday that this space could be used."
Bowers said, "They have centers. They have maybe churches that have extra floors. I don't think the school should have been an option at all."
People stand outside of the Sandra Feldman gymnasium at PS 188 in Coney Island, NY, Tuesday, May 16, 2023. Migrants are currently being housed in the gym at the school. (Jennifer Mitchell for Fox News Digital)
According to the NYC Mayor's office, "Every single day, hundreds of asylum seekers arrive in New York with no support. After hundreds more arrived the day before and thousands more in the days and weeks earlier. But once again, we're stepping up to the absence of national solution to this national crisis and are coming up with our own decompression strategy."
Kagan said the city council, which is majority Democrat, needs to act to address the city's sanctuary city status calling this an "absolutely emergency situation created by the federal government, by open borders policies."
Bowers said placing migrants at the school is "unfair."
"Our community is very small. We're a close family, but we're lacking a lot of programs in the community and you're taking away one of the spaces that our children use. Again, with all due respect to the mayor, please reconsider this."
Bowers said she and other parents and community leaders will meet at the school later on Tuesday to express their disagreement with the move.
