Brooklyn Parents Raise Alarm over All-Male Migrant Shelter Near Private School

Residents of Brooklyn, New York, are saying “none of us knew” or consented to a men’s migrant shelter being opened near their children’s private Christian school.

The all-male, 400-bed shelter opened in the borough’s Gowanus neighborhood in April right around the corner from City Life Academy, Fox News reported. 

“I try not to worry about this too much,” concerned mother Irina Edelstein said during a Thursday appearance on Fox & Friends First. “There’s enough running around and getting ready for school as it is. And, trying not to let anxiety get to me.”

According to the mom of three, “No one told us from the city side about the shelter’s coming up.”

“We found out from local residents when they stopped us at the pickup and they said, did you guys know right around the corner here, the shelter’s opening up for 400 men. None of us knew. Even the principal didn’t know,” Edelstein complained. 

The shelter is located in an old factory at 130 3rd Street, prompting worried members of the Third Street Block Association to sue the city, the building’s landlord, and the shelter’s operator, alleging that the use of the property as housing violates zoning laws, the Brownstoner reported. 

According to the International Women’s Forum (IWF), environmental testing protocols and other building codes were not adhered to by city officials while they worked to accelerate the shelter’s opening. 

Edelstein also said city council members claimed they reached out to schools and spoke to principals before the shelter was opened, but that was “absolutely not true.”

Her fears of safety risks following the shelter’s opening have not been unfounded — a suspected migrant was seen attempting to break into her car while she was picking up her children from the academy. 

“I was walking back to my car and one parent stopped me and she said, there are two guys [that] just walked by your car and tried to open it while you were inside the school. And she said that looked like the guys who were residents of the nearby shelter,” she said.