BREAKING: NYC’s James Madison High School forces students out of class to house 2,000 migrants amid winter weather

Nearly 2,000 illegal immigrants being housed at a shelter in Brooklyn’s Floyd Bennett Field are being evacuated ahead of a storm traveling up the East Coast, sending them to James Madison High School in anticipation of the less-than-ideal weather.

According to the New York Post, the city is expected to see torrential downpours and 70 mph winds on Tuesday night into Wednesday. The illegal immigrants were being housed in a massive tent at the exposed airfield.

“To be clear, this relocation is a proactive measure being taken out of an abundance of caution to ensure the safety and wellbeing of individuals working and living at the center,” City Hall spokeswoman Kayla Mamelak said.

“The families are already in the process of being temporarily relocated and will continue to be provided with essential services and support,” Mamelak added. “The relocation will continue until any weather conditions that may arise have stabilized and the facility is once again fit for living.”

In a press release from New York City councilmember Inna Vernikov, she said that the illegal immigrants were being transported to James Madison High School and would occupy the school’s gymnasium and auditorium overnight. 

"This is both unacceptable and was entirely foreseeable, as Floyd Bennett Field is vulnerable to all forms of inclement weather conditions and is not a sustainable housing facility. This emergency move was accurately predicted by critics of the Floyd Bennett Field as a location to be used as a migrant shelter," she wrote.

"Public schools are meant to be places of learning and growth for our children, and were never intended to be shelters or facilities for emergency housing."

Vernikov said that the students were dismissed early on Tuesday, and will be working remotely on Wednesday.

As of Tuesday evening, New York Public Schools said that "schools will remain open and drop off and dismissal will proceed as scheduled" for all other schools.

This comes as New York City Mayor Eric Adams announced on Thursday that his administration had filed a $700 million lawsuit against 17 charter bus companies that facilitated the transport of illegal immigrants from the southern border to the Big Apple.

Adams accused the companies of violating state law by failing to cover the cost of caring for the nearly 34,000 illegal immigrants brought in over the past 20 months, which has amounted to nearly three-quarters of a billion dollars.

Over 100,000 illegal immigrants have come to the sanctuary city, with Adams saying in late 2023 that "Everything’s on the table" when discussing what the city would cut to pay its debts. "But we want to minimize the impact to lower-income New Yorkers, our educational institutions, our public safety, and keeping our city streets. But everything’s on the table.”