Brooklyn’s Democratic Party leader is dragging race and class into the city’s migrant crisis, claiming the wealthier whiter neighborhoods in her borough are not shouldering their fair share of shelters.
“With dwindling resources being rapidly depleted, this situation is unsustainable without our entire borough banding together and helping together; as we have to overcome the Pandemic and other crises,” reads a statement released by local Dem chief Rodneyse Bichotte Hermelyn and the Brooklyn Democratic Party organization.
“Let’s spread the love the Brooklyn way,” Bichotte Hermelyn said in the missive, which was obtained by The Post.
“We acknowledge the vital feedback from Brooklynites recommending having migrant shelters in communities from Fort Hamilton Army Base, Bay Ridge, Brooklyn Heights,
Marine Park, and Manhattan Beach,” the release said.
“We are executing on recommending these neighborhoods in Brooklyn, as well as similarly expanding to underutilized areas across NYC, the entire State of New York, and other municipalities across the US.”
The statement from Bichotte, also a state assemblywoman representing Ditmas Park, Flatbush, East Flatbush and Midwood, is sure to raise eyebrows in political circles because she is considered a close ally of New York City Mayor Eric Adams, whose administration has been overseeing site selection.
Her comments also throw down the gauntlet for other elected lawmakers who reside in or represent the neighborhoods she and party brass have targeted as not shouldering their share of the burden to address the city’s migrant crisis.
Public Advocate Jumaane Williams, for example, resides in an apartment complex located in the Fort Hamilton US Army Garrison base in Brooklyn.
City Councilman Lincoln Restler, a lefty progressive Democrat, represents Brooklyn Heights.
Two Council members — Democrat Justin Brannan and Republican Ari Kagan — are running against each other to represent Bay Ridge in a newly reconconfigured district in November.
Republican Councilwoman Inna Vernikov represents Manhattan Beach.
Kagan defended his opposition to placing migrant shelters in the southern Brooklyn neighborhoods and accused Bichotte Hermelyn of engaging in divisive racial politics.
“It’s terrible race-baiting politics. There’s a backlash against shelters all over the city,” Kagan said.
“My position has been clear from the beginning. I oppose opening shelters and tents in our parks, recreational centers and school gyms,” the pol said.
Kagan said the “root causes” of the unrenting influx of migrants flooding the city need to be addressed — and should have been long ago.
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“I call on the federal government to secure the border. We have to get back to a legalized and orderly immigration system,” the Democrat-turned-Republican councilman said.
He also said the city should end its sanctuary and Right to Shelter policies that aid asylum seekers and also migrants who cross the border illegally.
Restler slammed Bichotte Hermelyn’s statement, noting that there are migrant shelters in parts of his district.
“Instead of trying to divide our communities, the county boss should be focused on uniting Brooklynites as we work together to receive and support the influx of migrants,” the councilman said. “I’m proud that our community has been welcoming new migrant shelters in the northside of Williamsburg and Boerum Hill and new homeless shelters in Downtown Brooklyn and Greenpoint.”
The mayor’s office declined comment on Bichotte’s remarks but provided The Post a borough breakdown showing that Manhattan and Queens were sheltering many more migrants than the more populous Brooklyn.
Of the current asylum seekers in shelters, 43% are in Manhattan, 30% in Queens, 14% in Brooklyn, 7% in The Bronx, 2% in Staten Island and 4% outside the city.
A City Hall insider said elected officials — including the mayor and council members — are hearing complaints from their base of black and Hispanic and working-class white voters over shelter distribution.
“They are feeling the pressure from black and brown constituents,” the source said of the pols.
For example, two Brooklyn lawmakers — state Sen. Roxanne Persaud and state Assemblyman Jaime Michael Williams, both of whom are black, are fighting the plan to place migrants at an encampment in Floyd Bennett Field in the borough.
Bichotte Hermelyn’s statement noted that lower income neighborhoods were already home to a disproportionate number of homeless shelters before the migrant crisis and said the wave of asylum seekers has only exacerbated the burden.
Data shows the higher the poverty rate is in a city neighborhood, the greater the number of homeless shelters it contains, the statement said.
“Brooklyn is a welcoming beacon of diversity and hope. It is home to millions of immigrants, comprising over 35% of our population,” the Bichotte Hermelyn-Kings County Democratic Party statement said.
“We are calling on all communities to proffer their aid while we work with the federal government to uplift all who seek shelter in Brooklyn as we resolve this crisis.”
Public Advocate Williams and council members Brannan and Vernikov had no immediate comment.