Northeast
Brooklyn mom fighting back after city officials opened male migrant shelter next to kids' school
Brooklyn residents say they were blindsided by New York City officials’ decision to open an all-male migrant shelter on the same block as an elementary school.
“We wanted to know when it’s going to happen, what are the logistics, what are the safety measures. We were not given any transparency,” Brooklyn mom of three Irina Edelstein says in the Independent Women’s Forum documentary, “Brooklyn’s Border Crisis.”
The documentary explores how Edelstein’s community has been grappling with safety issues since the opening of a 400-bed migrant shelter in the Gowanus neighborhood of Brooklyn last April. The shelter opened roughly 1,000 feet from City Life Academy, a private Christian K-12 school, where Edelstein’s children attend.
City officials told residents at a public meeting in March that they had “spoken to all the school principals in the area” and they had given their approval for the shelter. City Life Academy Principal Jeffrey Reed, who is also a pastor and father, disputes that comment.
OHIO RESIDENTS IN SMALL TOWN ERUPT OVER HAVOC CAUSED BY MASSIVE INFLUX OF 20,000 HAITIANS
Irina Edelstein, left, and Jeffrey Reed, right, speak about safety concerns and lack of transparency from city officials over a male migrant shelter that opened next to their kids’ school in April.
“I didn’t know about the shelter until two months before that meeting, and it had been in the works for almost a year, I think,” he says in the documentary of learning about the shelter from a neighbor.
The March community meeting was packed to the brim with residents seeking answers about safety protocols and logistics for the shelter. But Edelstein claims that city leaders weren’t transparent about their plans.
The pastor said he believed officials opened the shelter in “secret” because they feared community backlash.
“You make a decision in front of people, and they’re going to chime in. The reason you wouldn’t do that is because you know they’re going to chime in very loudly,” Reed said. “They knew there would be push back, and they knew if they had gone through the proper channels it probably never would’ve happened.”
BROOKLYN RESIDENTS OUTRAGED OVER MIGRANT SHELTER LOCATED FEET AWAY FROM ELEMENTARY SCHOOL: ‘NONE OF US KNEW’
Local politicians and city officials hold an over-packed community meeting to address growing concerns and questions about a plan for a new emergency shelter to house over 400 recently arrived migrants in the neighborhood, March 4, 2024, in the Gowanus section of Brooklyn, New York. (Photo by Andrew Lichtenstein/Corbis via Getty Images) (Getty Images)
A spokesperson for the NYC Department of Social Services told Fox News Digital that proper protocols were followed and local officials were made aware of the emergency shelter “months in advance.”
“Since the spring of 2022, over 215,000 asylum seekers have arrived in New York City in need of shelter and over 62,300 remain in the City’s care while hundreds more continue to arrive each week, placing immense strain on the city’s existing shelter infrastructure. In order to provide appropriate shelter services and essential supports to new arrivals, it was, and continues to be, critical that additional capacity be brought online to meet this growing need. Local elected officials were notified about this facility months in advance and considerable community engagement was conducted prior to opening. DSS-DHS is committed to serving all those in need, long-term New Yorkers and new arrivals alike, and we are dedicated to ensuring the safety of our clients and the community at all times,” the statement read.
Since the shelter’s opening, Edelstein claims that theft has become “almost a daily occurrence” in their neighborhood. In the documentary she describes troubling things she and family members have witnessed from the male migrants.
Reed has strengthened safety measures for the coming school year, including enlisting a group of fathers to monitor outside during the school day for any suspicious behavior and be a deterrence for any one looking to cause trouble.
“We ramped up our security badges,” he said. “Every outside square foot now, that’s unfortunately what you have to do now.”
TOPSHOT – Migrants camp outside a hotel where they had previously been housed, as they resist efforts by the city to relocate them to a Brooklyn facility for asylum seekers, in the Hells Kitchen neighborhood of New York on January 31, 2023. (Photo by Ed JONES / AFP) (Photo by ED JONES/AFP via Getty Images)
The Brooklyn residents are speaking up to draw attention to the migrant crisis that’s affecting their neighborhood and cities across the United States.
“To me, the way I view it, is being in this physically, emotionally abusive relationship, and you just stay silent thinking it’s going to get better,” Edelstein said. “Unless you speak up, get involved or have boldness to point things out speak out, nothing is going to change, it’s only going to get worse.”
The Brooklyn residents said they welcome legal immigration but that the laws need to be enforced. Edelstein is an immigrant herself, who came to the United States from the former Soviet Union as a teenager.
“There’s a difference between immigration and invasion,” she said.
VICTIM OF ILLEGAL IMMIGRANT CRIME UNDER THEN-DA HARRIS WARNS OF ‘SCARY’ SOFT-ON-CRIME AGENDA
Migrants walk along the highway through Suchiate, Chiapas state in southern Mexico, Sunday, July 21, 2024, during their journey north toward the U.S. border. (AP Photo/Edgar H. Clemente) ( (AP Photo/Edgar H. Clemente))
Reed says he has compassion for the people who are trying to make a better life for themselves and he ministers to men in the shelter.
“I’ve seen some immigrants come to our church,” Reed says in the documentary. “So my heart reaches out to them. Unfortunately, they’ve said this as well, there’s some bad players in the shelters and in all the shelters, and that’s the problem.”
IWF spokesperson Andrea Mew told Fox News Digital that these residents aren’t anti-immigrant but they feel like New York City officials have prioritized illegal migrants over the safety of their own citizens.
“It’s unfortunate because it feels like from Irina’s perspective, that the city was placing more of an importance on trying to house people who are not here legally than they are trying to protect their own, who have been here, and who might even just be, you know, first- or second-generation Americans,” Mew continued. “New York is such a vibrant, colorful city that there are people from every walk of life. And I think it’s telling that you even have legal immigrants who understand just how bad it is when we lack real border policies.”
Since the shelter’s opening, some residents have questioned the legality of the shelter and the rushed nature in which it came into place.
Locals have filed a lawsuit against the city and the owner of the shelter’s building after an investigation found they did not follow environmental testing protocols and violated other building codes to accelerate the shelter’s opening.
“The lawsuit filed in Brooklyn state Supreme Court claims the city and 130 Third Owner LLC and BHRAGS Home Care Corp, which would run the shelter, failed to conduct an environmental review under state law or give ‘consideration for the long and very well-known history of environmental contamination in this area,’” The New York Post reported.
Residents in the Democratic stronghold of Clinton Hill have also claimed gang-related crime has spiked due to an emergency migrant shelter set up in their neighborhood one year ago. Locals held a protest in July begging Mayor Eric Adams to hear their concerns.
“We have to be heard. Enough is enough,” said Renee Collymore, the Democratic liaison who organized the protest. “It’s not about anti-migrants. It’s about safety first.”
Fox News’ Madeline Coggins and Hannah Grossman contributed to this article.
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Connecticut lawmakers on Wednesday approved more reforms aimed at reining in towing companies in the state, following reporting by The Connecticut Mirror and ProPublica that exposed problems in state law.
The Connecticut Senate passed a bill that would create an online portal so Connecticut drivers can track their towed cars and require towing companies to consider the age of towed vehicles before they’re sold.
Last year, the legislature overhauled the state’s towing laws to end a practice in which towing companies could start the process to sell people’s cars in as little as 15 days if the firm deemed the car to be worth less than $1,500. The window was one of the shortest in the country, CT Mirror and ProPublica found, and meant many people who couldn’t afford to quickly pay the towing fees lost their cars.
The 2025 reform law required 30 days to pass before cars could be sold, and it ordered towing companies to accept credit cards, let people retrieve their belongings from towed cars, and warn owners before towing cars from private property over minor issues.
But CT Mirror and ProPublica continued to hear from residents who said they never received notice that their cars would be sold because their address on file was outdated or because their vehicle was still registered to someone else. The news organizations also performed an analysis that found that many towing companies valued vehicles much lower than their estimated retail values, allowing them to sell the vehicles more quickly.
The Connecticut Senate sought to fix both those issues with the latest bill, in part with the creation of the portal. The legislation, Senate Bill 413, would put new limits on which cars can be sold quickly: Towing companies could only sell vehicles after 30 days if they are at least 15 years old.
The new bill breezed through the Senate, 35-1. The House is expected to vote on it in the next few days.
“There are bad actors,” said Transportation Committee Co-Chair Sen. Christine Cohen, D-Guilford. “We have read about it in the press. It’s what prompted us to take action and really kind of take a look at our towing statutes on the whole.”
She said that legislators wanted to find language that strikes “that necessary balance between protecting consumers from predatory behavior but also supporting the many reputable small businesses that provide these essential services to our communities.”
The bill received bipartisan support. Committee ranking member Sen. Tony Hwang, R-Fairfield, urged members to support the measure. He said it builds on last year’s work, which he called “remarkable landmark legislation.”
The measures came partly from a working group created by last year’s towing reform law that spent the past several months studying towing policy and making recommendations.
The working group, composed of towing companies, consumer rights advocates and Department of Motor Vehicles officials, struggled to come to a consensus on policy changes. DMV Commissioner Tony Guerrera, who chaired the working group, ultimately issued recommendations that didn’t have support from everyone on the panel.
The new bill would create an advisory council to keep studying towing policies and how owners get their vehicles back. The council would also monitor the portal, which would be set up by the state DMV and allow owners to see where their vehicles have been towed and whether they are up for sale.
The bill also addressed towing fees. Towing companies have frequently complained that the fees they are allowed to charge are too low. The bill says fee rates should be set every three years and that those changes must be based on government measures of inflation.
Guerrera said the portal will make his agency more transparent and will help consumers find their vehicles more quickly.
“You have to be accountable and take things head-on,” Guerrera said. “This portal that we will get running as soon as possible will allow someone to go online and — even without all their information — find where their car is.”
But consumer advocate Raphael Podolsky, who served on the working group, said the portal will mostly help towing companies do away with paperwork and make the system easier for the DMV to monitor. He warned that some drivers might not be able to access the system.
“First of all, everybody doesn’t have a computer, and second of all, everybody who does have a computer would not know to go to a DMV portal, and third, not everybody has internet access, even if they have a computer,” Podolsky said.
Sal Sena, president of the industry association Towing & Recovery Professionals of Connecticut, said he thinks the portal will “make it easier for everyone” and that the state is “on the right track.”
Several former Maine high school boys basketball stars have announced new hardwood destinations in recent days, including 2023 Varsity Maine Player of the Year Will Davies, who is transferring from Division II St. Anselm College to America East power Vermont after being the Northeast-10 Conference Player of the Year.
Davies, a 6-foot-4 point guard, led St. Anslem to a 25-8 record, the NE-10 championship and two NCAA Division II tournament wins while averaging 13.7 points and 7.1 assists.
Former Edward Little standout Diing Maiwen, a 6-6 wing, made his January commitment to Division I Farleigh Dickinson official last week when the team announced his signing on social media. Also, 2026 Mr. Maine Basketball Nolan Ames of Camden Hills is expected to sign with Division II Bentley on Friday after announcing his commitment earlier this month.
As a senior at Thornton Academy, Davies led Class AA South in scoring, averaging 19.7 points while also posting 7.1 rebounds and 6.9 assists per game playing for his father, Bob. Davies did a postgraduate year at St. Thomas More in Connecticut and had a solid freshman season at St. Anselm, averaging 5.6 points while making two starts and appearing in 30 games.
This past season, Davies moved into a starring role. In addition to being his conference’s player of the year, he was also named the Division II Conference Commissioner’s Association East Region Player of the Year.
Davies entered the transfer portal in March. On April 22, St. Anselm announced its intention to transition to the Division III NEWMAC Conference in 2027-28. Vermont is coming off a 22-12 season that ended with a loss to UMBC in the America East championship game.
Maiwen was a Varsity Maine All-State selection in 2025 after averaging 18.5 points, 9.0 rebounds and 2.5 blocks in his senior season at Edward Little. He reclassified to the Class of 2026 and spent this past season at Knox School on Long Island in New York, earning co-player of the year honors in the Power 5 AAA conference.
Ames, a 6-2 guard, was named the Varsity Maine Player of the Year in 2026 after averaging 26.4 points, 7.5 rebounds and 3.6 assists while leading Camden Hills to the Class A North title and scoring 30 points in a state final loss to Portland. Ames originally committed to play at Colby College but announced that he was going to Bentley on April 16, about three weeks after former Colby coach Sam Rutigliano left the Waterville school to become an assistant coach at Kansas State.
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