NYC sends Brooklyn high school students home for remote learning to shelter 2,000 migrants amid extreme weather

A Brooklyn High school named after America’s fourth president and the father of the Constitution of the United States has effectively been shut down to make room for undocumented migrants who need sheltering in the New York City metropolitan area.

Two thousand migrants are currently being transported from their outside tent city location at Floyd Bennett field, an airfield in Jamaica Bay, to James Madison High School in Brooklyn where they will shelter in the high school’s gymnasium.

The decision for relocation was made out of abundance of caution by NYC officials who became concerned as 70 mph gusty winds struck Floyd Bennett field.

“To be clear, this relocation is a proactive measure being taken out of an abundance of caution to ensure the safety and well-being of individuals working and living at the center,” City Hall spokeswoman Kayla Mamelak said.

“The families are already in the process of being temporarily relocated and will continue to be provided with essential services and support,” she explained. 

“The relocation will continue until any weather conditions that may arise have stabilized and the facility is once again fit for living.”

Democratic Mayor Eric Adams continues to complain about the Biden administration’s handling of the influx of border crossers who are being transported from the southwest U.S. in states like Texas to the New York City metropolitan area.

Many of those migrants have found themselves shivering in New York after being bussed by officials organized by Texas GOP Gov. Greg Abbott, who has sent migrants to sanctuary cities across the country including Chicago, Los Angeles and New York as part of a strategy to alleviate the burden on the Lone Star state.

Adams is currently suing several bus companies, asking the courts to reimburse the city for the migrants’ housing costs. NYC has asserted that Texas has so far sent at least 33,600 migrants from the Lone Star state.

An estimated total of 110,000 have arrived in the past year. Other NYC officials apart from Adams are also joining in the fray, complaining that the recent seizure of James Madison High School is unfair to Brooklyn parents, students and the community.

“I have been informed that due to the incoming storm affecting New York City, around 2,000 migrants from Floyd Bennett field will be transported to James Madison High School this evening and will be occupying its gymnasiums overnight,” New York City Councilwoman Inna Vernikov said in a press release. “As an elected official representing this community, I demand a full stop to using our public  schools as a shelter ever again.”

Video footage released online depicted hundreds of people arriving at the Brooklyn high school on Tuesday evening.

The high school shut down has sparked a firestorm online from critics who believe the tradeoff is unfair to students and the general NYC population.

SpaceX and Tesla CEO Elon Musk, who is also the owner of the X social media platform ‘tweeted’ that [t]his is what happens when you run out of hotel rooms. Soon, cities will run out of schools to vacate. Then they will come for your homes.”

The relocation started 5 p.m. on Tuesday as more than two dozen school buses arrived at the field to take the migrants to the school.

The dangerous, gusty winds come in the wake of significant bad weather throughout December, which has hammered the 2000 bed tent city. Migrants endured pouring rain and 55-mph winds last month.

The storm was so bad that, according to the New York Post, it “shook metal bolts and hinges loose from the ceiling.”

One storm, on Dec. 18, flooded the field with four inches of rain, forcing migrants inside their tents.

“The wind was so strong, it looked like the tents were going to give way and be blown apart,” Venezuelan migrant Reibi Rodrigues told the Post. 

“When we told security we were afraid of an imminent collapse, they told us the door was open and we could leave when we want. “But where were we going to go?”