The New York Police Department (NYPD) arrested 10 individuals Tuesday demonstrating against a bus transporting asylum-seekers on Staten Island, ABC News reported.
The police officers responded to a call about an impromptu protest obstructing the vehicle carrying the asylum-seekers in front of a local daycare center. One of the detained protestors, a 48-year-old man identified as Vadim Belyakov, reportedly faces multiple charges for allegedly resisting arrest, ABC News reported. Nine other arrested individuals — eight men and one woman — were issued summonses for alleged disorderly conduct and were subsequently released.
“The crowd swelled to a capacity leading to disorderly and combative individuals confronting both police and the arriving bus which transported a group of migrants to be housed at the location,” the NYPD said in a statement, according to The Hill.
10 arrested in New York for protesting against bus of asylum-seekers https://t.co/lh8hZHej5l pic.twitter.com/rvinWNrvKt
— The Hill (@thehill) September 20, 2023
The protest was reportedly a reaction to the city’s Department of Social Services’ (DSS) decision to use the former daycare center as a shelter for the migrants. The bus, carrying 20 migrants, was forced to turn around due to the protest and headed back to the Roosevelt Hotel in Manhattan, currently used as a temporary migrant intake center. (RELATED: Biden Admin Shells Out Over $100 Million To NYC Due To Surge In Illegal Immigrants)
This incident happened against the backdrop of the ongoing debate in New York over the growing influx of migrants. Democratic New York City Mayor Eric Adams has previously voiced criticism of both Democratic New York Gov. Kathy Hochul and the Biden administration’s handling of the migrant surge. Over the past 18 months, approximately 130,000 asylum-seekers have arrived in the city, the outlet noted.