Staten Island Illegal Immigration Debate Gets Heated as Group Accuses Protestors of Attempting ‘Insurrection’

Dozens of recently arrived illegal immigrants camp outside of New York's Roosevelt Hotel, which has been made into a reception center, as they try to secure temporary housing in New York City on Aug. 1, 2023. Spencer Platt/Getty Images

A statement released by a New York City immigration center is calling on elected officials speaking out against the influx of illegal immigrants into residential Staten Island neighborhoods to be “held accountable”—and comparing their words to those trying to “execute an insurrection in DC.”

La Colmena, a nonprofit community-based organization working with “day laborers, domestic workers, and other low-wage immigrant workers” in Staten Island made the statement in a Sept. 20 press release.

“Elected officials who have supported these anti-immigrant rallies on Staten Island need to be held accountable because they have been rallying people to build hate against immigrants & our officers, the same message used to execute an insurrection in DC,” the group posted on X. “Hate and xenophobia has been existing in Staten Island and this is the type of environment that La Colmena has been operating under but that is finally coming to light for the world to see.”

“We will fight hate with courage and uphold our values as a welcoming nation of immigrants.”

Over the past several years the group has been the recipient of millions of dollars in public funds. In 2022 La Colmena was part of a $10 million city initiative “Promise NYC” to provide child care assistance to illegal immigrants. In 2022 the group received $1,958,608 in total grants and contributions. 

Repeated calls and emails to La Colmena from the Epoch Times requesting comment were not returned.

Donna, a Staten Island resident who didn’t want to give her last name out of fear of retaliation, told The Epoch Times that since the illegal immigrants arrived in her neighborhood the fabric of the community has changed for the worse.

“I don’t feel safe anymore. I have a young daughter, this is just disgusting.”

Resident John Aspinall, who heads the Travis Neighborhood Watch group, told The Epoch Times the influx has polarized the community and the situation is “getting worse and worse and worse.”

“These migrants are driving abandoned vehicles with no plates and no insurance and slamming them into parked cars. They have no insurance. They have no plates. It’s ridiculous. They do the same thing with mopeds, just two days ago two immigrants were driving on a moped and collided with a moving vehicle. It’s beyond ridiculous,” he said.

A recent collision event on Staten Island's Travis neighborhood, involving illegal immigrants driving a moped without a license, according to Mr. Aspinall. Courtesy of John Aspinall

Another recent collision event in Staten Island's Travis neighborhood, where an illegal immigrant without a license drove into a resident's parked car, according to Mr. Aspinall. Courtesy of John Aspinall

Travis neighborhood residents have been sending photos and videos of illegal immigrants sleeping on the streets and engaging in dangerous behavior to the neighborhood group. Courtesy of John Aspinall

“It has greatly polarized our community.  They are either pro-migrant or anti-migrant. It’s splitting up the community and it shouldn’t be. The migrants are behind an abandoned LA fitness with propane tanks. In the parking lot in the front they are doing donuts,” Mr. Aspinall said.

“There is no accountability. These officials just leave them at the shelters and walk away. There is no security. It’s not just a danger to our community—it’s a danger to them. There are small children out at all hours. It is a safety hazard.”

Staten Island is facing the consequences of a growing surge of illegal immigrants into New York City, the only locality in the state considered to be a sanctuary city. Where to put the influx of new illegal immigrants has become an issue of controversy and inter-party tensions.

Last week police made 10 arrests after fed-up Staten Island residents took to the street Tuesday night and physically blocked the arrival of a bus carrying dozens of illegal immigrants to a residential school that had recently been converted into a shelter.

The city has long claimed a legal obligation to provide housing for every resident under the “right to shelter” law, which was first established in 1981. The rule came into existence after advocates for the homeless claimed the right to shelter in a lawsuit. The city agreed with the homeless advocates, signing a “consent decree,” which pledged to provide shelter to anyone suffering “physical, mental, or social dysfunction.”

City officials claim an estimated influx of 100,000 illegal immigrants has strained the city’s resources and services. New York City Mayor Eric Adams has insisted that the city can’t sustain the numbers of new illegal immigrants, even by utilizing the outer boroughs, and has called on the rest of the state to help ease the burden. Staten Island officials claim that it is a crisis of the mayor’s own creation in deeming New York City a “sanctuary city.”

Staten Island, long known as the “forgotten borough,” has often flirted with the idea of breaking off from New York City. It has always been an outlier within the five boroughs, with a majority conservative Republican population is often at odds with the rest of the city.

“The people feel like we are on a tugboat attached to the Titanic,” Staten Island Borough President Vito Fossella told The Epoch Times in an earlier interview. “The people can see that the city is sinking, and unless we are okay with sinking, too, there is a need to separate.”

Donna, who has lived in the borough for over ten years, said that she isn’t anti-immigrant, but that illegally crossing the border has had a corrosive effect on the rule of law.

“We are a melting pot over here, but we are family oriented. We care about our community. We look out for each other,” said Donna.

“This is getting out of hand. They need to close the border.”