The grim scene inside what authorities called a ‘migrant shelter’ in upstate New York was revealed after 31 asylum seekers, including children, were ordered to leave.
A judge ordered the house vacated Monday after local authorities conducted a surprise inspection of the three-bedroom house in Rockland County, about an hour north of New York, and determined that the number of migrants living in the house was “unacceptable”.
“We executed a search warrant at this location and discovered at least 31 migrants who came to this country via Texas to New York,” said Clarkstown Supervisor George Hoehmann.
More than 110,000 migrants have flooded into the city since the spring of 2022. Many migrants have been transported north from Republican border states in an effort to prove that Democrats’ open-arms policy is a disaster.
“The conditions in this home with 31 people living in the garage basement and a multitude of alleged building code violations were completely unacceptable…Our investigation to date has determined that this is a organized effort that brought these illegal immigrants and migrants to Clarkstown,” Hoehmann added.
The grim scene inside what authorities called a ‘migrant shelter’ in upstate New York was revealed after 31 asylum seekers, including children, were ordered to get out.
The images show mattresses lined up next to each other throughout the house, including on the concrete floor of the garage and basements.
The migrants who lived in the house are from Ecuador and Guatemala and arrived in the United States via Texas, according to authorities.
Images shared by Hoehmann show mattresses lined up next to each other throughout the house, including on the concrete floor of the garage and basements. He described the scene as “mattress upon mattress upon mattress.”
In one image, an American flag can be seen hanging in the dark garage, where shoes and beers are scattered on the floor.
According to court documents, authorities discovered that walls and partitions had been built to block an emergency response. They also found no working smoke alarms, no working carbon monoxide alarms, no fire extinguishers or sprinklers.
The house, located at 295 New Hempstead Road, New City, is owned by Shloima Koppel and was purchased in 2022 for $470,000.
Rockland County officials said they are currently investigating another property owned by Koppel in Spring Valley.
They added that they had received more than 30 tips about other properties that could also house dozens of migrants.
“We knew something was wrong. What we saw was so bad. It was by far the worst shelter we’ve seen,” Hoehmann told the New York Post.
Hoehmann said tenants mentioned they were using the house as a “stopover” before moving to another residence possibly nearby.
He warned suburban New York residents that the migrant crisis is “coming to a city near you.”
An American flag can be seen hanging in the dark garage, where shoes and beers can be seen scattered on the floor.
The house, located at 295 New Hempstead Road, New City, is owned by Shloima Koppel and was purchased in 2022 for $470,000.
Migrants seen leaving after judge’s order
Mayor Eric Adams also warned that New York’s migrant crisis would continue to spread to neighboring counties.
The crisis is expected to cost the city more than $4 billion this fiscal year if the situation persists — and Mayor Adams has warned that the influx of asylum seekers could destroy the city.
Despite Adams’ pleas for help from the state and federal government, the city has not received aid to cover the additional costs, so the $4.7 billion would come from city budget. This amount is equal to the combined budgets of the city’s sanitation, fire and parks departments.
There are now nearly 60,000 migrants in the city’s custody, and about 21,000 new migrant children are starting school this year.
City officials said they expected the number of asylum seekers to reach nearly 33,980 households this fiscal year.
The mayor said city services will be affected by the additional spending on the budget. He previously said the city plans to cut services such as library hours, meals for seniors and free full-time care for three-year-olds.
The city has a legal obligation to house those headed to the metro, and Adams has desperately turned to a variety of city landmarks, makeshift shelters and temporary housing as short-term solutions.
New York officials have been sounding the alarm for months about their failure to right the ship, with Adams warning that his office estimates the problem will cost the city about $12 billion in just three years.
He declared a state of emergency in the fall and repeatedly called the flood a “humanitarian crisis.” The mayor’s unsuccessful demands for more federal funding led him to condemn President Biden in April for “failing” the city.
The crisis is also far from being confined to New York, as many major metropolises are also struggling to house asylum seekers. In Chicago, residents were stunned to learn that a police station had been turned into a shelter in May.