Migrants staying at New York’s Floyd Bennett Field are begging local neighborhood residents for cash, food and clothes, according to the New York Post.
Amid tensions from some local residents about the use of Floyd Bennett Field, migrants arrived at the taxpayer-funded migrant shelter in early November. The city of New York prepared the shelter’s offerings across multiple tents, including bathrooms, a cafeteria and a medical facility, the New York Post reported. Some migrants, however, were not satisfied with the shelter, claiming there is a lack of amenities like a television, according to another New York Post report.
Some Brooklyn residents are now claiming migrants have been showing up on their doorsteps requesting aid, with many locals concerned over their safety, according to the New York Post. (RELATED: Gov’t Agency Doles Out Thousands To Fund ‘Art Therapy’ Program For Young Illegal Immigrants)
One Brooklyn resident living in the Marine Park neighborhood, David Fitzgerald, 62, claimed there has been an influx of migrants showing up at his doorstep in recent weeks, the outlet reported. Although Fitzgerald lives roughly four miles away from the migrant shelter, footage from his Ring doorbell camera allegedly captured a migrant family with children knocking on his door, the New York Post reported.
“There’s definitely an invasion of immigrants from Floyd Bennett Field in our neighborhood and I see them sitting outside stores … outside the mall and going around to all the houses in the neighborhood, knocking on the door looking for money,” Fitzgerald told the New York Post.
“I certainly sympathize with their situation, but to have people knocking at your door looking for food that don’t speak English, it’s annoying. I don’t like it. We have never had this before, ever.”
REPORT: Migrants in New York City are now going door to door, begging locals for money and food.
This is just part & parcel of living in a Sanctuary City!
Migrants are knocking on doors in Brooklyn after many of them were relocated to a tent shelter at Floyd Bennett Field after… pic.twitter.com/s8E2d629lI
— Collin Rugg (@CollinRugg) December 22, 2023
Another local resident of 30 years, Paul Sanzone, said migrants are now knocking on his door on a “regular basis,” putting him and his wife “on edge,” the outlet reported. Sanzone shared a recent encounter they allegedly had with two migrants who had asked around for food and money — they appeared to be wearing ankle monitors, the outlet reported. (RELATED: 11-Year-Old Dead After Being Found With Shoelace Around Neck In NYC Migrant Shelter: Police)
“I am all for charity, 100%. I’ll give you the shirt off my back, the money in my pocket, but not this way. It has got to stop,” Sanzone told the New York Post. “It’s alarming.”
A third resident, identified as Bronislav, claimed a migrant family with two children knocked on his door asking for clothes Friday, the outlet reported.
“They asked for clothes. I said I didn’t have and that was the truth,” the local resident told the New York Post.
The State of New York currently has a one-year lease on the former military base, paying roughly $1.7 million in monthly rent with a total cost agreement of over $20.8 million, according to NY1.
Some local residents are engaging in a Facebook group, “STOP FLOYD BENNETT ILLEGAL MIGRANTS,” according to The City. Residents in the group have allegedly shared stories of their interactions with the migrants, with some reportedly angry and others trying to help them out, the outlet reported.
Fitzgerald blamed the shelter for migrants asking around for food, as some have allegedly described the food as “cold,” according to The City. Several migrants living in the shelter claimed they received cold eggs for breakfast and cold hamburgers for lunch, noting that their children often went hungry due to not eating the food, the outlet reported.
A spokesperson for the city’s Health and Hospitals Corporation overseeing the shelter claimed migrants were provided with three meals a day, available for 12 hours a day, and snacks available on-site all day, according to The City. The spokesperson also provided a copy of a sample menu to the outlet which listed bagels, corn muffins and hard-boiled eggs for breakfast, chicken gyro and buffalo sandwiches for lunch, as well as hot dogs or rotisserie chicken for dinner.
“These people are coming to residents of this neighborhood looking for the assistance that they are not getting,” Fitzgerald told the New York Post.
“Personally, I don’t think they should be at Floyd Bennett Field anyway. It’s not a good living environment for people, certainly for families. It’s just not good enough and if there is no room for them to be here, then they should not be here.”