By Rommel H. Ojeda | Documented

At the beginning of summer 2023, Clinton Hill, a neighborhood in Brooklyn, embraced thousands of asylum seekers when a shelter opened at 47 Hall St. through the city’s emergency response program. The residents organized coat drives, resource fairs, and food donations for the newcomers.

But when a second shelter opened nine months later without their knowledge, Clinton Hill became a point of dispute as longtime residents began protesting the shelters, citing concerns of overpopulation and public safety, particularly after a series of shootings that took two lives — including a shelter’s residents.

Signs reading “Shelters are not helping the neighborhood,” “New York is not the only sanctuary city,” and “Taxpayers first” have become common at town halls and rallies. The protests have occurred amid the heightened focus on immigration in the 2024 presidential elections, and as New Yorkers have begun questioning the city’s identity as a sanctuary with the arrival of 200,000 migrants over the past two years, many of whom were bussed in by other states. Approximately 60,000 have remained under the city’s care.

“Let me clarify, we are not against immigrants,” Clinton Hill resident Jorge Santos, 61, said during a rally in June. “We welcome them, but we do need better communication from the representatives.”

The second shelter’s opening in April brought the number of asylum seekers in the neighborhood to approximately 3,500. Residents pressed local officials to reduce the size of the Hall Street shelter noting public safety concerns and the need for better living conditions for migrants.

Santos, whose parents emigrated from Cuba during the ‘60s, has been living in Clinton Hill since 2002. He told Documented that Clinton Hill residents welcomed the migrants and have provided essential resources to them, but he said the opening a second shelter without the knowledge of the community undermined the tax-paying residents of the neighborhood.

The city opened the shelter because they were “tolerant people,” he said, adding that if the residents were anti-immigration or anti-immigrant they would have resorted to protesting and demanding the shelters close as opposed to asking for smaller sized shelters throughout the city. “We want to welcome them but you can’t just abandon them here in these conditions,” he reiterated. “All of this is on us.”

On May 6, Council member Crystal Hudson (D-35) wrote a letter to Mayor Eric Adams asking for more support to help with the increased population, writing: “More people means more trash, greater use of public facilities like parks, and more neighborly disputes around issues like noise or loitering. My office and my neighbors have been asking for your assistance for the better part of a year to no avail.”

She noted the difference in budget and personnel available to the district when compared to the city’s number of employees and the funds.

Still, Santos and other residents feel that Hudson has not done enough to stand up for the community, with some saying that they have seen more trash in the area near the shelters.

Continue reading the full report by Rommel H. Ojeda on Documented.