US sanctuary cities move to clear migrant tent encampments

( NewsNation ) — More than 64,000 migrants live in New York City-funded shelters , but like other cities where new arrivals have been bused from the southern border, the Big Apple has started clearing tent encampments to get asylum-seekers off the streets and moving toward more permanent housing.

A tented dormitory sleeps 3,000 new arrivals on Randall’s Island along the East River. Most of the residents transitioned after shelter evictions.

Like other sanctuary city leaders who have allocated billions to addressing new arrivals , New York City Mayor Eric Adams has placed time limits on shelter stays, which has forced many in tent encampments like the one on Randall’s Island to move on.

Adams told reporters at a recent news conference that the city does not want to be heavy-handed or insensitive when it comes to clearing out tent encampments across the city. At the same time, however, Adams’ administration has made it clear he believes tent encampments are illegal and that the sweeps are intended to improve the quality of life for all New York residents.

Adams’ chief of staff, Camille Joseph Varlack, told reporters last month that the city is in the process of dealing with the encampments and is attempting to help them as the city is able.

“Whether or not they are asylum-seekers, and maybe other individuals, and make sure they have the resources to move on,” Varlack said.

In August, the New York City Police Department and other city agencies conducted a sweep of a tent encampment outside of the Randall’s Island shelter following several crimes, city officials said. The area has been the site of two homicides as well, The New York Times reported.

NYPD officials said the sweep began with officers confiscating unregistered cars and stolen mopeds and motorcycles. However, advocates for the homeless said city officials returned the next day and began to throw the belongings of migrants living in tents into the back of trucks and ordered them to leave the area.

According to the city’s encampment sweep protocols, notices are posted and site clean-ups take place 48-96 hours within the scheduled time. Social services teams advise people living at the encampments to hold on to important documents and other belongings because things left behind will be discarded.

Advocates said in many cases, the new arrivals were unaware that police would be returning to force them to leave. In many cases, they described the sweeps as chaotic, with city officials often not willing to explain what is happening or why to those living at the encampment.

The city said Department of Homeless Services employees who are part of the sweeps must use best efforts to retain eligible belongings for temporary storage. People living in the areas are then given instructions on how to retain their belongings from storage.

Migrants who may be attempting to collect their belongings are not able to, officials with organizations like the Coalition for the Homeless say, as city officials often throw items into the back of a truck and drive off. Officials with the agency, however, insist the city’s policy is not tailored for homeless asylum-seekers and fails to capture the reality of their situation.

“These operations will help improve the quality of life of all New Yorkers who use the public space, particularly those who remain in our care nearby,” city spokesperson Liz Garcia said. “We will continue to prioritize public safety while also providing individuals with the resources they need to pursue the American Dream.”

New York has provided services to 212,000 migrants and asylum seekers since 2022, according to city data. Yet for those who have been moved from the area, being uprooted has created a sense of instability and chaos that results in migrants’ personal belongings being thrown in the back of a truck and hauled away.

“You can just imagine for folks who have escaped their own country because of trauma that they’ve endured there to be subjected to this particular type of treatment that is even more disturbing,” Will Watts, deputy executive director for advocacy at the Coalition for the Homeless , told NewsNation.

Chicago, California also clearing migrant encampments

New York, Denver and Chicago have been popular destinations for Texas Gov. Greg Abbott’s migrant busing operation. On the border, leaders in San Diego are taking action following California Gov. Gavin Newsom’s executive order that required cities to address encampments.

In Chicago, where more than 47,000 migrants and asylum-seekers have arrived, city officials are clearing tent encampments to move people toward sustainable housing. Data shows the city’s homeless population has tripled , driven by new arrivals this past year.

In total, 60 people were living at 11 different tent encampments around Chicago, two of which have closed, the city’s Department of Family and Support Services said. Of the 60, 48 accepted new housing assignments.

Since 2020, city agencies have assisted 2,800 households relocate to their own homes, including 898 who previously lived in encampments. The city does not track migrants after they leave city-run shelters.

New York City officials have attempted to provide new arrivals with a “soft landing,” Garcia said. Part of that instruction includes messaging that tent encampments are not safe or secure for migrants, longtime unhoused New Yorkers or anyone else living in the city.

Too many times, however, Watts says the process is littered with a lack of understanding, which creates instability for a group already struggling with the unknown.

“There’s that feeling (among migrants) of what’s going on and why,” Watts said. “There’s a degree of fear or trauma that happens.”

San Diego has completed more sweeps since Newsom directed officials to move urgently to address dangerous encampments. He warned if encampments remain, cities risk losing state funding.

Sweeps have been ongoing in city parks, where several migrant encampments have sprouted. Those living in the tents say they don’t have anywhere else to go.

“This isn’t a good place to live,” Venezuelan Albany Hernandez told a local news radio station . “We don’t have bathrooms, we don’t have water, we don’t have electricity.”

Watts said when faced with the decision to stay in tents or go back home to their home country, most people stay.

“It’s not like they have a pick of other places to go,” Watts said.

How Denver moved on from tent encampments

Denver city officials began seeing the first remnants of a tent encampment pop up last September.

By December, the tent community covered about two city blocks and housed nearly 300 people. That month alone, 144 busloads of migrants arrived from Texas as Denver became the biggest hot spot for new arrivals per capita in the U.S. with more than 37,000 migrants.

As officials like the Denver Department of Human Services ’ Jon Ewing walked through the tent communities, he found families of five inside as winter approached. Moving them became a moral issue for Mayor Mike Johnston.

“For a while there, that really was our breaking point where we thought, ‘We can’t have families on the streets of Denver,’” Ewing told NewsNation. “We’ve got to do something different.”

Denver officials launched its Asylum Seeker Program, which provides new arrivals with housing assistance, job training and work authorization workshops. City council members also raised $350,000, which was handed over to local nonprofit organizations that work with migrants to put them on a path to self-reliance.

After the city was able to put those living in the large tent encampments into longer-term shelters or permanent housing, Denver has not experienced issues with seeing families on the streets, Ewing said. The last encampment was closed in May, affecting about 100 people .

Ewing insists the city’s success in limiting migrants experiencing homelessness doesn’t mean Denver has cornered the market on solving the migrant crisis.

“It really is this big top-down issue that a lot of cities — Denver, Chicago, New York — are all trying to figure out on their own,” Ewing said, “because Congress just absolutely refuses to do anything about it.”

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