Illegal immigrants removed from overcrowded temporary shelter on Staten Island over fire safety concerns

On Monday, dozens of illegal immigrants who had been housed on Staten Island were told they had to leave St. John's Villa academy, a former school turned shelter, the use of which has been widely criticized by residents of the borrough.

The move came after months of protests and court battles, however it was the New York Fire Department that declared the site a fire hazard because of how many people were being housed there. The capacity of the building had been greatly breached.

According to the New York Post, there were approximately 200 illegal immigrants using rhe school as a temporary shelter. They were removed to buses after the FDNY deemed the conditions unsafe for habitation.

Nearly all of the illegal immigrants were taken to the Roosevelt Hotel in Manhattan, which has been leased by the city from the Pakistani group that owns the property. The building is full of illegal immigrants from around the world and has been the site of frequent visits from the NYPD.

While the illegals immigrants were removed from the Staten Island location, a crowd of residents gathered and cheered. Many officials, including Staten Island Borough President Vito Fossella, have spoken against the relocation of illegal immigrants to Staten Island. Residents have been frustrated about the lack of concern the city has had for their community.

"This should never have been opened in the first place," Fosella said of St. John's Villa. "We are very happy that the fire department frankly validated all our concerns and helped to close this facility once and for all."

“People realized that we were always right about this crisis," City Council Minority Leader Joe Borelli added.

The illegal immigrants were first brought to the former school in September without consultation between Staten Islanders and Mayor Eric Adams' government. From day one, residents were not impressed. The city has seen an influx of some 10,000 new people per month into the city, a direct result of the Biden administration's unwillingness to manage the border.

Eventually a lawsuit was filed, and the city went up against lawyers for concerned citizens in court. A judge ended up ruling in favor of the removal of migrants from the shelter, however that decision was stayed when the Adams administration successfully appealed.

The city was not, however, able to stop the FDNY from carrying out its evacuation of the property, despite the fact that they have owned the building since 2018. The FDNY is remarkably strict about the obeyance of fire safety regulations in a city where nearly 9 million people live and work in large buildings.

New York City has estimated that it will cost $1 billion to house migrants over the next three years.