New York City opened a men-only undocumented immigrant shelter about 800 feet from a private Christian school in Brooklyn in April, raising concerns among local residents about the safety of children.
of Independent Women's Forum We spoke with City Life Academy's principal, Jeffrey Reed, and Irina Edelstein, mother of three children who attend the school.
“When someone makes a decision like that in the dark, it's almost never the right decision.”
Reed and Edelstein said the city failed to provide adequate notice that it was opening a 400-bed shelter for undocumented immigrants so close to an elementary and middle school. They expressed concern about the safety of children attending the traditional Christian school and that city officials proceeded with the plan in secrecy with little or no input from local residents.
Edelstein, a legal immigrant from the former Soviet Union, told IW Features that she learned about the soon-to-be shelter when a resident gave her an informational flyer on her way to pick up her children from City Life Academy. Reed noted that she didn't find out about the city's plans for the shelter until nearly a year after planning began.
Edelstein said the city opened the shelters “without any notice to the schools.”
“When I returned from spring break, the shelter was fully operational,” she explained.
“Many of the people who are here legally will go on to make lives for themselves and become positive, good contributors to this country,” Edelstein said. “But there's a difference between immigration and invasion.”
Reed said city officials didn't solicit community input because they “knew there would be backlash.”
“They knew if they took the right route or the proper route. [it] “It probably never would have been opened,” he added. “When someone makes a decision like that in the dark, it's almost always not the right decision.”
The school has implemented several safety measures to protect students, including video surveillance and a “paternity system” or “Father's Day,” Reed told IW Features.
“I asked them [parents]”'Can you just come over here and watch the street while school is in session?' And if they see somebody, just having their dad standing there makes them cross the street to avoid us,” Reed said of Father's Day.
IWF Features Manager Andrea Mew said: Daily Caller News Foundation“Brooklyn is thousands of miles from the southern border, yet mothers like Irina find themselves suddenly hit by an unprecedented border crisis in their own backyard.”
“As Irina showed us the impacts of a migrant shelter opening within 1,000 feet of her children's elementary school and described the complete lack of transparency from city leaders, we knew it was paramount that we document the negative impacts on her community,” Mew added.
The New York City Mayor's Office of Immigration and Customs did not respond to DCNF's request for comment.
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