The immigrants destroy Randall's island while taking shelter in the huge tent town of formerly baccolic Big Apple Park. Now, one Manhattanpol wants $11 million to back it up for city kids.
Manhattan Borough's president, Mark Levine, is asking for $5.8 million to be invested in city hall to restore the composite field of the site shredded by a 3,000-bed immigration shelter before it closes.
“These fields at the footbridge on 103rd Avenue are important to recreational needs across New Yorker City, but in particular residents of East Harlem and the South Bronx,” Levine wrote to Mayor Eric Adams and City Parks officials on February 27th.
“We understand and fully appreciate the need for temporary measures, but we also need to address the impact it has had on the park's infrastructure and access to quality recreational facilities in our community,” writes Levine. “These additional playable times provide over 200,000 children with the opportunity to go out and play each year.”
The large immigrant tent city was built in August 2023 as the city tackled an unprecedented influx of asylum seekers from the Mexican border.
However, the facility was troubled from the start. This includes attacks of violence among residents and disrupted camps set up by migrants launched from shelters.
Randall's Island shelter officially closed last month, with city workers working for weeks cleaning up any remaining mess. From chairs to clothing, clothing, to city bikes, to city bikes that have been dumped along the coastline, they include debris thrown into the water by camp immigrants.
“We brought a garbage truck and police,” a Parks department worker told the Post. “There have been several arrests. One of the immigrants threw a rock at my supervisor and hated him his foot, but he had to push the charges. The rest of them running, they had a warrant.
“We've been going to this every day for the past two weeks,” the worker said. “It's a lot of garbage that we had to go out. You can see it coming back. It's beautiful here. It was beautiful. “
In February 2024, several immigrants were kicked out of their tents. This forced NYPD officers to force thugs and scuffs to regain control.
Five months later, a Venezuelan immigrant died, others were injured in a drive-by shooting outside the facility, with clear retaliation for a previous explosion of violence there.
In August, police officers played migrants and cat and mouse games in illegal camps. There, drugs and alcohol sold out outdoors and tore it all overnight just to get the tent back into erection.
Locals are now sighing at Ahrelief that the tents are finally gone.
“I've been waiting for this for a long time,” said Olga, a 54-year-old Bronx resident, who was out for a lunch stroll with her colleagues from a nearby Kirby Psychiatric Center. “It was too much violence. It was out of control. Garbage everywhere. It was not safe to walk around here for lunch.”
Meanwhile, a security guard who worked at an immigration shelter said he had only one regret.
“Sorry to see it go, the only reason it was because it was work safety,” he said. “Otherwise, yes, this is very good. It's back to the nice place it was.”
In a statement Wednesday, an Adams spokesman said the mayor would respond to Levine's letter but did not provide details.
“Thanks to the Adams administration's wise management of the immigration crisis, including 30 and 60 days of policy and advocacy at the federal level, we have seen the shelter system decline for over seven months,” the statement said.
A spokesman said there are no immigrants left on Randall Island, and said 53 shelters will be closed by June.
Since the influx began in 2022, city officials have opened 258 immigration shelters.
