


A site of a former public school on Staten Island was being prepped Saturday to take in 300 migrants – even as some local pols raged that surrounding neighborhoods received little notice and no assurances that the new arrivals were properly vetted.
State Assemblyman Sam Pirozzolo (R-Staten Island) said he only was told Friday by Mayor Eric Adams’ reps that the ex-Richard H. Hungerford School on Tompkins Avenue would be receiving the migrants, adding few specifics were provided. He said he walked the site later that evening and noticed no security present, which he found “disturbing.”
“The list of Americans who need the services and resources being used on illegals is far too long for this to be allowed to continue,” Pirozzolo told The Post.
Rep. Nicole Malliotakis, another Staten Island Republican, called the migrant drop in her home borough the latest proof that the city’s “right-to-shelter” law – which was created in 1981 to predominantly to help homeless New Yorkers — is being taken advantage of by people “claiming to seek asylum.”
“This is unsustainable, and it’s ridiculous and a slap in the face to taxpayers,” she told The Post.
The city is so desperate to find housing migrants that it nearly moved some families into the gym of PS 188 on Coney Island in Brooklyn– but abruptly reversed course Friday following community outcry.
Meanwhile, Gov. Hochul wrote President Biden a letter Friday requesting the feds erect temporary housing for migrants at Floyd Bennett Field, the former military airfield in southeast Brooklyn near a bridge leading to the Rockaways.
City Councilmember Joann Ariola, a Queens Republican who represents Rockaway residents, said she found the request “shocking” and would fight it with “every fiber of my being.” She said the mass transit options near Floyd Bennett are limited to the Q35 bus line.
“Placing a migrant shelter in such an isolated location not only hampers the ability of migrants to access essential services and opportunities, but it also creates challenges for the local community in terms of transportation logistics,” she said.