Students exit P.S. 172 after classes end for the day as a protest sign is displayed outside the school, Tuesday, May 16, 2023, in New York. New York City Mayor Eric Adam's plan to temporarily house immigrants in the school's gymnasium has frustrated some community members who protested outside the building earlier in the day.
Twenty school gyms are currently being considered for temporary housing. At least one of them, in the Coney Island section of Brooklyn, was housing migrants on Tuesday. Several others have been supplied in recent days with green cots and emergency rations. The mayor said the school gyms were intended to be used only for short periods, with the goal being to move people out quickly.Following the expiration of a pandemic-era immigration policy last week, the number of migrants entering the U.S.
Parents protested Tuesday morning outside a public school in Brooklyn’s Williamsburg section, where a squat brick gym was being prepared for the arrival of migrants. In the afternoon, after classes dismissed for the day, the playground was unusually quiet. Parents said their kids were told they couldn’t play outside and that all after school programs were being held indoors.
City officials said there were advantages to school buildings, which are municipally owned, and come with built-in staff and security. Many of the gymnasiums were previously used for vaccine distribution during the pandemic.