(Trends Wide) — In New York City, hundreds of immigrants are housed in current or former school gymnasiums.
In Chicago, dozens of immigrants have been sleeping in a police station.
And in Florida, where the Republican governor has sent migrants to Democratic-run cities across the country, the state has contracted with three companies to relocate migrants arriving in the state.
While the surge of new immigrants following the expiration of Title 42 border policy last week was not as large as many expected, the scramble to locate asylum seekers who traveled thousands of miles fleeing violence or crushing poverty it has generated widespread tensions within and between states.
And more parts of the United States could suddenly find themselves with unexpected immigrants.
“No to asylum in school campuses”
About 300 immigrants have been placed in current and former New York City college gyms, a source familiar with the planning process told Trends Wide.
This Monday, 220 immigrants were in the gym of a former Staten Island school, according to the source. Fewer than 80 immigrants were housed at a gym at PS 188 in Coney Island, and fewer than 30 at a gym at PS 17 in Williamsburg, the source said.
The gyms are not physically connected to the schools, the source added.
Some New York parents were shocked or puzzled to learn of the city’s plan to temporarily house immigrants in 20 school gyms.
“I would like other places to be considered,” Samantha Clark told Trends Wide affiliate WABC. “Our school is tiny. We barely fit like that.”
Aramis Rosa said she sympathizes with immigrants, but also opposes the plan to house them in school gyms.
“We are not against them,” Rosa told WABC. “Everyone is welcome, but not in our school, together with our children.”
Mayor Eric Adams said immigrants won’t interact with students, but that hasn’t done much to assuage parental concerns.
Outside the PS 17 school in Brooklyn, a group of parents and students protested this Wednesday morning against the accommodation of immigrants in the center’s gym.
About 100 people marched around the block chanting, “We want our gym back!” and “Let us play!”.
Both parents and minors carried banners that read: “We need recess”, “Asylum is prohibited on school grounds” and “Safety first”.
One of the organizers of the protest insisted on the need to support the immigrants, although it did not seem appropriate to house them on the school grounds.
Organizer addresses a group of protesters early Wednesday morning at PS 17 in Brooklyn. Credit: Trends Wide
“What we are going to do is support them. All of you children are going to help us write notes and we will make care packages for all the people who pass through here,” the organizer announced to the crowd.
“We wish them the best. We care about them. But they shouldn’t be on school grounds, and not in a place that only has three bathrooms for 100 people, right?”
New York authorities disagree on where to locate immigrants
Elsewhere in the state, a New York Supreme Court judge has granted a temporary restraining order preventing the city’s mayor from sending asylum seekers to nearby Orange County to try to ease the influx of immigrants arriving in the city. most populous in the country.
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The order, requested last week by Orange County Executive Steven Neuhaus, allows the 186 asylum seekers already staying at the Crossroads Hotel and Ramada by Wyndham in the city of Newburgh to remain in the county, according to the filing.
But new immigrants will not be allowed to stay in hotels if one of the current occupants leaves, according to the order.
The rejection comes at a time when New York City is struggling to accommodate a flood of immigrants, some of whom have been bussed to New York by Republican governors and local officials from southern states.
Since last spring, New York City has processed more than 65,000 immigrants and some 35,000 remain under city wards, city officials said. The city has opened more than 140 emergency shelters and eight large-scale humanitarian aid centers to manage the crisis, according to the mayor.
And a wave of new asylum seekers arrived last week with the expiration of Title 42, the Trump-era policy enacted early in the Covid-19 pandemic that allowed authorities to quickly expel migrants at land borders. from USA
New York Gov. Kathy Hochul last week asked for help from the federal government with the construction and operation of temporary shelters “in anticipation of several thousand asylum seekers arriving in New York each week.”
Adams’ office has expressed disappointment with the judge’s decision.
“New York City has cared for more than 65,000 immigrants, sheltering, feeding and caring for them, and we’ve done it largely without incident,” Adams’ press secretary Fabien Levy told Trends Wide Tuesday night. .
“We need the federal government to step up, but until it does, we need other elected officials across the state and country to step up. New York City has run out of space and we’re just asking the Orange County handling approximately ¼ of the 1% of asylum seekers who have arrived in New York City, with New York paying for room, board and utilities.”
But the Orange County executive said: “New York City should not establish a homeless shelter outside of its borders, in Orange County.”
“The city is a self-proclaimed sanctuary city; Orange County is not,” Neuhaus said in a statement. “We should not have to bear the burden of the immigration crisis that the federal government and Mayor Adams created, and I will continue to fight for Orange County residents in this important way.”
The New York Immigration Coalition (NYIC), an immigrant rights group, criticized both Adams and Neuhaus, saying the two need to start working together to coordinate and address the needs of asylum seekers in the region.
“But County Executive Neuhaus should not gloat over the judge’s temporary restraining order. His actions in response to asylum seekers in his region have been disgraceful: he has only stoked fear and resentment in his community.” Murad Awawdeh, NYIC’s chief executive officer, said in a statement.
“At a time when he should have opted for foster care, he has chosen cruelty instead.”
Immigrants have lived out of a Chicago police station
Hundreds of immigrants have been staying in buildings around the city of Chicago after they were bused to Chicago in an “inhumane” manner, former Mayor Lori Lightfoot said earlier this month, according to Trends Wide affiliate WBBM television.
During his final days in office, Lightfoot issued an emergency declaration in hopes of raising federal and state money to help the city respond to the crisis.
More than 70 immigrant families were staying at the Chicago Police Department’s 12th Precinct station.
“I’ve been here two weeks,” Johon Torres, an immigrant from Venezuela, told WBBM. Torres is accompanied by his three daughters and his niece.
Families in limbo have received supplies donated by refugee organizations, Good Samaritans and even some police officers.
But the situation is untenable, says Sergeant James Calvino of the Chicago Police Sergeants Association.
“It’s skyrocketed, it’s out of control,” Calvino told WBBM.
Florida contracts private companies to serve immigrants
Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis’ administration has chosen three companies to execute the next phase of its immigrant resettlement program, according to documents obtained by Trends Wide.
The Florida Division of Emergency Management (FDEM) selected Vertol Systems Company Inc., ARS Global Emergency Management, and GardaWorld Federal Services to “manage and implement a relocation program for individuals” who have been processed and released by the US government, according to an FDEM document.
The contract sets the framework for resending immigrants to Democratic-run cities, as seen in 2022 when Vertol Systems Company Inc. provided two planes to relocate immigrants from San Antonio, Texas, to Martha’s Vineyard, Massachusetts, under the direction from DeSantis.
The State requires providers to be “solely responsible” from start to finish for the transportation of the participants, including the social services that must be provided to them in the destination cities.
The newly selected providers are tasked with providing ground and air transportation services to assist with what the DeSantis administration is calling the “voluntary relocation of inspected unauthorized aliens,” who have agreed to be relocated from “Florida, or another state, to a place within the United States.
The FDEM did not indicate the number of migrants expected to be transferred and says it will be determined “based on the circumstances on the ground.” One seller noted its ability to carry between 40 and 50 passengers a week, or about 2,200 a year.
A question-and-answer document between anonymous vendors and FDEM, posted on the state’s public procurement website, sheds light on how the state wants companies to carry out the program.
One vendor mentioned California, New York and Georgia as potential destinations for flights originating in Florida.
The state wants vendors to begin transporting migrants “within 72 hours of notification from the Division,” and they must honor their contract by June 30, 2025, unless terminated earlier.
In response to a question about the management of the transport of minors, the FDEM said that it does not “anticipate the transfer of minors without a father or guardian.”
FDEM said it anticipates this contract to be “turnkey,” saying that “providers will locate and identify, screen and verify individuals for program eligibility and transportation.”
The document notes that US$10 million has been allocated to FDEM for the 2022-23 fiscal year for this program, which expires on June 30.
Trends Wide has reached out to Vertol Systems Company, ARS Global Emergency Management and GardaWorld Federal Services for comment.
— Trends Wide’s Athena Jones, Linh Tran, Polo Sandoval and Nicki Brown contributed to this report.
