In recent weeks, illegal immigrants have set up a makeshift encampment outside the Randalls Island shelter and appear to be operating an illegal open-air market selling drugs, cigarettes and food.
According to New York PostWhat was once a lush park is now an illegal tent village littered with trash, blankets and clothing. More than 50 tents are set up at the campsite on Randall’s Island in the East River. The city has installed two portable toilets in the area, but The Washington Post reports that the toilets are “filthy, overflowing and appear not to have been used for at least a week.”
“It’s a disaster.”
Some of the squatters living in the park have destroyed the city’s utility poles to steal electricity for cooking and have taken over water fountains to bathe in.
News media reported that more than 20 tents were lined up along the park’s walkways and scores of electric scooters were speeding down the bike path.
One Manhattan resident told The Post that illegal immigrants are driving locals out of the area and intimidating them.
“This is my zen place. No, it used to be my zen place,” the resident said. “There was never any trash here, and now it’s full of trash.”
“This is now a disaster site,” she added.
An NYPD officer stationed in the area told The Post that the situation at the outdoor market and encampments was “getting out of hand.”
WABC Television NYPD officers descended on the area to conduct sweeps and remove the encampments, the Post reported on Wednesday. Police reportedly seized unregistered vehicles. The Post noted that similar encampments had popped up last year and had to be cleared by police multiple times.
“We don’t care who you are, no matter who you are, where you go, where you live, we’re here to fight crime,” said NYPD Sergeant John Chell.
According to the Washington Post, many of the undocumented immigrants living in the makeshift camp are former residents of the nearby Randalls Island shelter, which has been a hub of violence since it opened last year.
The shelter has seen a number of violent and even deadly altercations. Just last month, a shooting near the shelter left one person dead and two injured. Earlier this year, a 24-year-old man living at the Randalls Island shelter was stabbed to death by a group of men who were also living at the shelter.
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