Democratic New York City Mayor Eric Adams has plans to convert up to 20 gymnasiums linked to public schools into makeshift shelters for illegal immigrants arriving in the city.
“We want to be clear on that plan: We have 20 standalone gymnasiums throughout the city. They stand alone, they’re not a part of the school building,” Adams said. “They are on the list of potential locations that we may have to use. We’re not there yet, but we need a list to be prepared so if these influxes continue, that we could accommodate what we have to accommodate.”
It was not immediately clear from Adams’ comments whether these selected gymnasiums are located on campuses shared with any public schools. NTD News repeatedly reached out to Adams’ office for further details but did not receive a response by the time this article was published.
Adams said his office’s efforts to find shelter locations came about as New York City took in approximately 4,200 new illegal immigrants last week.
Adams then reiterated that he had not made a final decision on converting these gymnasiums into shelters.
“If we do, we are going to notify the public and let them know,” he added.
NYC Dealing With Illegal Immigrant Buses
New York City is facing an onslaught of illegal immigrants being transported by bus from communities at the U.S. southern border.Republican Texas Gov. Greg Abbott has been sending busloads of illegal immigrants from the border to other states for months. Abbott’s bussing strategy has focused on so-called “sanctuary cities” like New York and Chicago. Sanctuary jurisdictions are those that do not cooperate with federal immigration authorities who might arrest or deport illegal immigrants.
Adams recently criticized Abbott’s decision to bus migrants to New York City, as well as to other sanctuary cities like Los Angeles, Chicago, Denver, and Washington.