Tentative contract to utilize Floyd Bennett Field as shelter for Caribbean asylum seekers

After months of negotiations, Gov. Kathy Hochul announced on Monday that the Biden administration has provided New York with a tentative contract that would allow the state to utilize Floyd Bennett Field in Brooklyn as a shelter for Caribbean and other asylum seekers.

Many of the asylum seekers coming to New York from the southern borders of the United States are nationals of Cuba, Haiti, Venezuela and Nicaragua.

“Once the final agreement is signed, we will work with Mayor Adams and his team to set up a Humanitarian Emergency Relief and Response Center at Floyd Bennett Field with the capacity to shelter more than 2,000 asylum seekers,” Hochul said. 

“We are grateful to President Biden for his support of this initiative and committed to continuing our advocacy on behalf of the people of New York.” 

The governor, however, said that, “ultimately, the path out of this crisis is granting work authorization immediately, so these individuals can move out of shelter and into independent living arrangements. 

“This site will be critical in the interim for the City of New York to provide humanitarian aid, as we work collectively to get people on the path to asylum seeker status and legal work,” she said. 

Adams said that, for months, he and Hochul have been urging the federal government to allow New York to use Floyd Bennett Field to help house some of the more than 100,000 asylum seekers who have sought care in New York City.

“And I’m grateful that we have a tentative agreement to move forward on this site,” he said. “I thank Gov. Hochul for her commitment to pay for this site, and I’m looking forward to more of this kind of partnership with our friends in Albany as we manage this ongoing crisis. 

“But let’s be clear: because we haven’t seen meaningful policy changes that would alter the course of this crisis, we’ve been forced to play an unsustainable game of ‘whack-a-mole’, opening new site after new site as asylum seekers continue to arrive by the thousands,” he warned. 

“We will continue to advocate for expedited work authorization for asylum seekers, a federal declaration of emergency, and a national and state decompression strategy, and we’re committed to making today’s announcement the beginning of a new era of enhanced partnership between our local, state, and federal governments,” Adams added. 

New City Public Advocate Jumaane Williams, the son of Grenadian immigrants, said he was “glad to see the governor commit this location and funding to provide shelter for the ever-increasing number of new and aspiring New Yorkers arriving in our city. 

“The site is not ideal, but we continue to be left to choose the best of bad options,” he said. 

Williams said he will “work to ensure that shelters meet the necessary standards, including security precautions, resource availability, and transportation access to and from the site for migrants and community organizations alike. 

“I hope that this and other actions signal a sustained and increased effort by the state to step up with financial and infrastructural support to meet this humanitarian crisis,” he said. 

“I appreciate the federal government approving this site location – their support cannot end with approval, as there is a much greater responsibility,” he added. “We urgently need more federal funding, resources, and infrastructure to help ensure that people fleeing danger and seeking asylum and support in our country are met by the federal government with aid, not apathy.”