Many New York City residents say they do not have a lot of confidence in the immigrant curfews put in place by Mayor Eric Adams that are set to take effect Tuesday.
Asylum-seekers throughout the city were told Monday that their shelters will be under strict curfews between 11 p.m. and 6 a.m., according to a report.
“What’s it really going to change?” a Queens resident who lives near a respite center asked. “I mean, this is New York. You think they’re going to enforce a curfew?”
“What are they going to do, kick them out, send them away?” another New Yorker posited.
As it stands, the curfew only affects respite centers, but Adams’s office suggested that similar policies could take effect at other immigrant housing facilities, including the controversial Collective Paper Factory hotel, the report noted.
The curfew was put in place to stymie the complaints and fears of residents regarding the influx of illegal immigrants into New York.
“My girlfriend has been catcalled, other women in the building,” the Queens resident said before expounding on an incident when a drunken shelter immigrant chased after area residents before attempting to break into their building.
“He kept pulling and pulling,” he said.
Another story shared by a different Queens native details how some groups of immigrant children stay out at night.
“I see them at 11, midnight,” she said. “I’m talking about 2-, 3-, 4-year-olds. Not teenagers. A child that age should be in bed, not out on the cold street.
“I don’t really trust the system,” the resident added regarding Adams’s new curfew. “But also, what will it change, really? What will it do for them, too? I don’t know what conditions are like inside the hotel. Maybe it’s worse inside than outside.”
The new curfew policy will go into effect at all four respite centers in the city, but immigrants at those locations will be permitted to seek exemptions for work needs, according to the report.
CLICK HERE TO READ MORE FROM THE WASHINGTON EXAMINER
Officials with the New York City Emergency Management Department will enforce the policy with a three-strike system.
Individuals who receive three strikes in 30 days could face expulsion from the centers, according to the report.