Floyd Bennett Field temporary shelter leaves migrants less than thrilled

Many of the first migrants to arrive at the city's temporary shelter at Floyd Bennett Field in Brooklyn turned around Sunday and climbed back on their bus, arguing the site was inaccessible to area schools and public transportation, officials said.

In a dramatic scene, at least a dozen migrant families who arrived by bus from the Roosevelt Hotel in Manhattan refused to stay at the former federal airfield and returned to the city's main intake center, according to video posted on Facebook by Democratic state Assemb. Jaime Williams, who represents the area.

The account was confirmed by a spokeswoman for Mayor Eric Adams, adding that the migrants who left had signed release forms and were provided transportation off site. The shelter, she said, is still available if they change their mind.

The spokeswoman did not answer questions about how many migrants have moved into the Floyd Bennett shelter to date but said 13 families stayed there Sunday night and more were moving in Monday.

In a statement, the mayor's office said: "More than 139,500 asylum-seekers have moved through our intake system since the spring of 2022, all of whom have been offered vital services like shelter, food, medical care, casework support, legal assistance, social services, and more," the mayor's office said in a statement. "But with more than 65,600 migrants still currently in our care, and thousands more continuing to arrive every week, we have used every possible corner of New York City and are quite simply out of good options to shelter migrants."

City Councilwoman Joann Ariola, a Queens Republican who, along with Williams, has filed suit to block the city from using Floyd Bennett Field to house migrants, posted on X, formerly known as Twitter, that migrants refused to stay "for various reasons such as location, conditions and the proximity of the schools where their children are registered."

Many of the migrants who arrived in Brooklyn Sunday were unhappy that the tent city is not close to local school districts or subway stations, Williams said.

Lawmakers have previously raised concerns that the site is a potential flooding and fire hazard.

The temporary shelter is expected to initially house 500 individuals before expanding to up to 2,000 family members. Migrants will be able to remain at the center for 60 days, the limit permitted by the city.

The state is footing the bill for the Floyd Bennett shelter at a monthly rent of $1.7 million or just over $20 million for the one-year lease term.

Since the spring of 2022, the city has processed more than 130,000 asylum-seekers at more than 200 shelters across the five boroughs.

By Robert Brodsky

robert.brodsky@newsday.com@BrodskyRobert

Robert Brodsky is a breaking news reporter who has worked at Newsday since 2011. He is a Queens College and American University alum.