(Headline USA) New York City residents are turning on the city over its handling of the migrant crisis, demanding that officials do more to curb the influx of illegal immigration.
In Queens, dozens of residents rallied over the weekend outside the East Elmhurst migrant shelter, formerly a Courtyard Marriott hotel, demanding that the city shut the shelter down.
“Our community has been over-saturated with homeless shelters for far too long. This has been a total failure at all levels of government,” said former city councilman and state lawmaker Hiram Monserrate, according to the New York Post.
“You see it every day in our community, and we see how our quality of life has gone downhill,” he added. “Now we’re getting complaints about RVs and prostitution right here on Ditmars Boulevard. Drug sales right here on Ditmars Boulevard. Consumption of alcohol right here in our community.”
The final straw, Moserrate argued, was the attempted murder of two New York Police Department officers by an illegal Venezuelan who was living in the East Elmhurst migrant shelter.
Bernardo Castro Mata, 19, a suspected member of the Venezuelan “Tren de Aragua” gang, allegedly shot two officers in Queens and was arraigned last week.
Residents outside the shelter argued their neighborhood is at a breaking point, pointing out that Queens has more than 15 similar migrant shelters.
“Enough is enough,” said resident Frank Taylor, a member of the Ditmars Block Association.
“Time to start shutting some of them down, starting with this one,” he continued. “Our community has suffered. We are taxpayers and homeowners and we have been totally disrespected and taken for granted.”
The protests in Queens comes a few weeks after New York City residents in the Bronx rallied to support former President Donald Trump. Tens of thousands of people attended the former president’s campaign rally.
Trump has made it clear that he believes the notoriously blue New York City is winnable— in large part because of President Joe Biden’s open-border crisis.
“New Yorkers have something called common sense… and old fashioned common sense is exactly what I plan to bring back to the White House,” Trump said in the Bronx.
