Hundreds of Staten Islanders raged outside of a former Catholic school again Tuesday night to protest the city’s expansive migrant shelter.
The demonstration is the fourth large-scale rally as irate locals continue to rail against the 300-bed site dumped on the borough’s Arrochar section at the former St. John Villa Academy.
New York City has struggled to find places for the more than 107,000 asylum seekers who have flooded into the Big Apple since spring 2022.
But the administration’s move to house migrants into emergency shelters across the five boroughs has faced its most severe backlash on Staten Island, often called the “forgotten borough.”
A few hundred protestors showed up to the ad hoc migrant shelter Tuesday, where they demanded closed borders and displayed signs reading “Mayor Adams is a dork” and “Protect our children.”
“All these people are jumping the line!” protestor David Rem, 59, of Queens told The Post.
The rally on Tuesday night is the fourth demonstration outside the former school.
Hundreds have gathered outside the former St. John’s Villa Academy since the city announced plans to start housing migrants there. Paul MartinkaA woman from the South Shore who was wearing a “Land of the Free” shirt said she was worried about the safety of her niece who attends St. Joseph Hill Academy, a Catholic co-ed elementary school and all-girl high school whose campus backs up to the new migrant center at the former site of St. John Villa Academy.
“We are trying to do what is best for our children [but] it’s like fighting a losing battle,” Florence P., 68, said.
The Staten Islander who works at a pediatrician’s office said that the migrants must be vetted and vaccinated before they are welcome.
“We don’t know what their background is. Until we find out and get them vetted then they’re welcome. Until then they’re not welcome,” Florence said.
The shelter site has faced some of the most severe backlash from locals. Paul MartinkaGuardian Angels founder and former Republican mayoral candidate Curtis Sliwa, expected to attend the rally on the island the latest battleground where in New Yorkers are pushing back against Mayor Eric Adams’ handling of the crisis.
The former private school has become the newest focal point for the migrant crisis that has engulfed the Big Apple since the spring of last year. More than 107,000 migrants from the US border have been shipped to the five boroughs, and nearly 59,000 are now being housed by the city.
Residents have repeatedly come out to the former school, which closed down and was later bought by the city in 2018, to decry bringing asylum seekers into the area.
“We love immigrants,” John Tobacco, one of the organizers previously told The Post. “We love anyone who comes here legally.”
More than 1,000 demonstrators had protested outside the makeshift Staten Island shelter last week, with cops saying they anticipated twice as many to converge on the former school. Police beefed up their presence soon after after erecting barricades at the scene.
Some demonstrators aimed their anger at a Post reporter last week, forcing them from the scene.
Counter-protestors have since joined the scene to welcome the migrants.
About two dozen, pro-migrant demonstrators were at the former Catholic school at Tuesday’s rally to challenge the notion that the migrants aren’t wanted in the borough. They chanted: “Hey hey! Ho ho! Discrimination has got to go!” and “Say it loud, say it clear: Refugees are welcome here!”
“There’s always this rep about Staten Island that these people represent us and they don’t represent us,” retired teacher and North Shore resident Debby Poleshuck, 75, told The Post. “I see myself as reflecting the good people of Staten Island, not the racists and those people.”
Another North Shore resident, Neil Berry, 63, was also at the protest to provide a different narrative to the larger crowd.
“We are better tha this,” Berry said. “This city is known for bringing in people, immigrants and refugees looking for a better life.”
As of last week, there are approximately two dozen migrants at the former St. John Villa Academy, according to City Hall.
Last week, a judge temporarily banned the housing of migrants at the former school but it was overturned after an 11th hour appeal by NYC. The Appellate Court removed a vacate order which allowed the migrants already in the shelter to remain in place.
The next hearing is scheduled for Sept 14.
