Mayor Eric Adams' tent city roundly opposed by New Yorkers

New York is constructing its first set of tent cities for illegal migrants in the Bronx, with workers "getting stuff done" to lay out the welcome mat in an Orchard Beach parking lot, reports the New York Post.

Poles and beams were being erected by around 30 workers in what will eventually be five massive, heated tents to house 1,000 adults for as many as four days each while they are screened before entering the city's shelter system.



Photos of Orchard Beach show rows of camping cots without mattresses, with some now wondering if it's such a good idea to place migrants in the 1.1-mile strip along the Long Island sound. New York Mayor Eric Adams has said that the migrant influx could reach 75,000 people.

“Why send them to a low-income area?” Soto, 35, of Soundview, told the Post. "Why don’t they send them to the Hamptons? It’s elected people being petty and the people suffer."

Retiree Nelson Cortes, 76, of Morris Par said he usually uses the area to enjoy the outdoors. “We don’t want this. We come here to enjoy the beach. We bring our families here to have a picnic,” he said.

“I don’t live far away from here and the value of my house will go down.” He also worried that "there won’t be enough jobs and there will be more crime."

Cortes, from Puerto Rico, said “When I came to this country, I paid my own fare and I didn’t get anything from the government. I arrived, got a job and provided for my family.”

Juan Nazario, 59, also of Puerto Rico, said that the locals, who are "99 percent Puerto Rican," will be blamed for the bad behavior of the illegals. “Anything illegal that happens here now, the Puerto Ricans will all be blamed for it," he said.

The tents also had more than 20 generators, portable toilets, and a "mobile sleeping unit" on site. One worker said the job could take more than ten days to complete.