New Yorkers living near migrant centers think new curfews offer cold comfort: ‘What’s it really gonna change?’
New Yorkers living near migrant respite centers where curfews are set to go into effect Tuesday think the new measures are better than nothing, but doubt they will have any real effect on safety concerns in their neighborhoods.
“What’s it really gonna change? I mean, this is New York. You think they’re gonna enforce a curfew?” said a man who lives in near the Judo Center on 35th Avenue in Astoria, Queens, one of the four migrant respite centers subject to the curfew.
“What are they gonna do, kick them out, send them away?” added the neighbor, who asked not to be named.
Migrants at the respite centers across the city were informed Monday of the new measures, which will require they check in each night by 11 p.m. and remain inside until 6 a.m. the following morning.
The curfew for now only applies to respite centers — where asylum-seekers waiting for long-term housing at shelters and tent cities stay — but Mayor Eric Adams’ administration said the restrictions might soon be implemented at other city housing for migrants, like the Collective Paper Factory hotel in Astoria, blocks from the Judo Center.
Curfews were enacted following weeks of complaints from neighbors about an “invasion” of desperate people going door-to-door begging for food, money and clothing, sometimes at all hours of the day.
Other locals described scary scenes that have left them fearing for their safety.
“My girlfriend has been catcalled, other women in the building,” the Judo Center neighbor told The Post Monday, before recalling an incident where a drunken man he said was a shelter resident chased two people into their building before trying to break the door down.
“He kept pulling and pulling. The super had to call the cops,” he said.
Another Astoria local, Turna Rojas, said she regularly sees crowds of young migrant children running rampant through the neighborhood late into the night.
“I see them at eleven, midnight. I’m talking about two, three, four year-olds. Not teenagers. A child that age should be in bed, not out on the cold street,” Rojas said.
Her husband, Jamie Rojas, thinks the curfew is “really good” and will keep the migrants and the neighborhood alike safe, but she disagreed.
“I don’t really trust the system. But also, what will it change, really? What will it do for them, too? I don’t know what conditions are like inside the hotel. Maybe it’s worse inside than outside,” Turna Rojas said.
Moe R., the Rojas’ superintendent, said he didn’t think the curfew was necessary.
“I don’t see any crimes happening here. Sure a little bit of noise, a little bit more trash, but that’s natural. It’s New York,” he said.
The other migrant respite centers include the JFK Center on North Boundary Road in Queens, the Stockton Center on Stockton Street in Brooklyn and the Lincoln Manhattan Center on Central Park North in Manhattan.
Migrants will be allowed to apply for exemptions from the curfew for work needs — like the nighttime food delivery — schooling, and legal or medical appointments, according to City Hall
The curfew will be enforced by the New York City Emergency Management Department, which staffs the respite centers, using a three-strike system.
Anybody caught in violation three times within 30 days will be subject to expulsion from the centers.
Migrants themselves were divided on the curfew.
Deivis Johan, a migrant from Venezuela who has lived in the neighborhood for five months, drives DoorDash late at night and did not think he would be affected.
“I think it’s a good thing. I don’t think it will affect me much, and it’s safer for the kids and families,” he said. “I’m not worried the police will bother me when I’m trying to do my job.”
Maria Del Carmen, who arrived from Ecuador two months ago with her two children, wasn’t afraid her family would be impacted, but was still not a fan.
“I don’t think this is good for us, but if those are the rules that they set for us, as migrants it is up to us to follow what they say,” she said.
