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Tipsheet

Nicole Malliotakis Praises Judge's Order Closing Migrant Shelter on Staten Island

AP Photo/Hans Pennink

Staten Islanders who are fed up with New York City taking in countless illegal immigrants as a "sanctuary city" may have found relief in a Tuesday order from Justice Wayne Ozzi, after a lawsuit was filed from local politicians claiming New York Mayor Eric Adams (D) is violating zoning laws and other regulations. In his latest ruling on the matter, he ordered that the St. John Villa Academy be closed as a migrant shelter. The city has been pushed to the breaking point taking in so many people, with little to no help from the Biden administration. 

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Rep. Nicole Malliotakis (R-NY), who represents New York's 11th Congressional District, which includes Staten Island, praised the order in a statement. "I applaud Judge Ozzi for ruling in our favor and ordering the immediate closure of this inappropriate and illegal shelter on Staten Island," she said. "Mayor Adams should not appeal this decision but instead accept that this shelter is not only opposed by the vast majority of Staten Islanders, but violates the law. It's time to move on and make St. John Villa Academy the 1,000 seat school Staten Island students were promised and deserve."

Although Adams has gotten more honest about how the crisis at the southern border and the surge of migrants has affected his city, he's still appealing the decision.

As the New York Daily News reported, "City Hall quickly staked out plans to appeal the ruling and affirmed it won’t vacate the site in the meantime," despite how Ozzi issued a preliminary injunction ordering the administration to "immediately" move the people out of St. John's. 

Included is a statement from Adams spokeswoman Kayla Mamelak:

However, Adams spokeswoman Kayla Mamelak said the migrants at St. John’s aren’t going anywhere because the administration planned to later Tuesday file an emergency appeal of Ozzi’s ruling. She held that appeal will “freeze the directive to remove residents.”

In a statement, Mamelak said it’s critical for the administration to appeal Ozzi’s order because it jeopardizes the city’s ability to ensure migrant families with kids aren’t forced to sleep on the streets.

“We are taking steps to immediately appeal this ruling, which we believe is incorrect in key respects and which threatens to disrupt efforts to manage this national humanitarian crisis,” Mamelak said. “Instances like this underscore the urgent need for a broader state and national solution, as we’ve emphasized repeatedly.”

...

About a month ago, Ozzi issued a temporary restraining order blocking the Adams administration from housing migrants at the closed Catholic school. However, that order was vacated within a few hours by a higher court after lawyers for Adams filed an emergency appeal.

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Ozzi's order also memorably takes issue with a mandate from 1981 meant to guarantee shelter, referring to it as "an anachronistic relic from the past" and also noting with original emphasis, it was meant to help New Yorkers find housing.

"The Consent Decree was entered into to address a specific problem existing at the time -- to provide housing for unfortunate New Yorkers who needed shelter," the order read with original emphasis. "The City agreed to provide shelter to those who were homeless 'by reason of physical, mental, or social dysfunction.' While a few unnamed migrant asylum seekers may fit this description, these criteria are clearly not the reason the respondents are providing them with shelter," his order continued, only getting more powerful from there as it highlighted the reality of what New York is facing 

"No one can argue that there was at that time a situation of the magnitude existing today -- a virtual flood of migrant asylum seekers whose members would fill two Yankee Stadiums, and equal one-fifth of the population of State Island. Over 110,000 asylum seekers have arrived in New York City since Spring 2022, and the City is seeking to house approximately 60,000 of them."

Ozzi had stronger words still for the decree, noting that "[t]he 1981 consent decree to address a problem as different from today's dilemma as night and day. It is an anachronistic relic from the past, an altruistic plan to assist local 'Bowery derelicts.' This Court concludes that it does not create a 'right to shelter,' as that phrase has been colloquially used. Neither do other subsequent consent judgements and decrees upholding the respondent's commitment to provide shelter to the homeless, nor any case law."

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The ruling also notes that not only is "the Court not bound by the Mayor's declaration of an emergency," it denies that there even is an emergency. 

"Respondents did nothing to stem the tide, such as diverting these persons elsewhere, rejecting or returning them outright, or constructing or retrofitting facilities in places permitted under zoning or other regulations," Ozzi's order goes on to mention when discussing how Gov. Greg Abbott (R-TX) sent such people to New York City last year. "Respondents say nothing about any attempts to vet the arrivals with a view toward identifying and segregating those who have applied for asylum (and who are entitled to remain in the United States under Federal law while their applications are processed), and those who have not and may have entered the United States by less than legitimate means.

Ozzi's order also notes that "[t]his Court cannot comment on the wisdom or efficacy of Respondents' policies, but they do have an impact on the issue of whether inadequate planning, or lack thereof, was the cause, a contributing factor, of the problem they characterize as an emergency."

Later still in the order, the order mentions that "[t]he emergency relief on is, for a large part, one of the Respondent's own making, unlike sudden and uncontrollable events like a pandemic, flooding, storm, blizzard, terrorist attacks, etc. This Court finds that Respondents, and the EOs they rely upon, fail to offer a rational justification for suspending local laws in order to permit the creation of shelters for migrant asylum seekers in places where they would otherwise not be authorized, or in disregard of the rights of the community to notice and a public hearing, or other right to be head before large scale shelters open in residential areas."

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Further, when it comes to Ozzi's order mentioning how any such decree applied to New Yorkers, the homelessness situation has been abysmal in New York City, with Mia recently reporting that the mayor has been mercilessly heckled on the matter. 

Citing the Homeless Outreach Population Estimate survey, the New York Post reported in July that homelessness increased by 18 percent in 2023, with 4,042 people being counted as sleeping on the streets or in the subways. Another piece from last month pointed to a report from Comptroller Brad Lander highlighting how homelessness was already an issue before the surge. 

Even The New York Times published such a headline on June 30, "New York’s Shelters Were Packed. Now They Are Bursting at the Seams."

In addition to posting about the ruling, the congresswoman posted an image of a Korean War veteran, one of many seniors she says has been "forced to leave the Island Shores assisted living facility that is now a migrant shelter."

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The surge of immigrants and the failure to adequately handle the situation has also negatively impacted schools in New York City, as Leah reported earlier this month. 


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