NYC expands migrant shelter curfew following violent incidents
New York City is expanding a migrant shelter curfew on Monday to more than a dozen locations following a string of recent violent incidents involving police and migrants in Times Square.
The 11 p.m. to 6 a.m. curfew – which initially was put in place at four shelters – will now be in effect at 20 others, impacting about 3,600 migrants, according to Kayla Mamelak, a spokesperson for Mayor Eric Adams' administration.
One of the shelters in Long Island City, Queens, houses nearly 1,000 migrants, and the curfews began last month in response to neighborhood complaints, The Associated Press reported.
"New York City continues to lead the nation in managing this national humanitarian crisis, and that includes prioritizing the health and safety of both asylum seekers in our care and New Yorkers who live in the communities surrounding the emergency shelters we manage," Mamelak said in a statement to the AP.
She added that such overnight curfews are already in place at New York City’s homeless shelters, and they will allow for a "more efficient capacity management" of migrants in the city’s care.
The announcement of the curfew comes after a 15-year-old armed migrant was arrested for allegedly shooting a tourist and firing at police in Times Square on Thursday.
The New York Police Department said the teen – who arrived in New York City from Venezuela less than six months ago and was living at a migrant shelter on Manhattan’s Upper West side – will be charged as an adult on charges including two counts of attempted murder, assault and two counts of criminal possession of a weapon.
NY GOP REPS BLAME ‘DISASTEROUS’ DEMOCRAT POLICIES FOR SECOND VIOLENT MIGRANT ATTACK IN TWO WEEKS
Police said the teen was captured on security video opening fire inside a sporting goods store in Times Square after a security guard stopped him with stolen merchandise.
The shot missed the security guard but struck a female Brazilian tourist in the leg. The teen migrant then allegedly fired at least twice at a responding police officer, the NYPD added.
Migrants were also seen in a viral video in January stomping and kicking two police officers in Times Square.
The NYPD said last week that two people involved in that incident are still at large.
Fox News’ Sarah Rumpf-Whitten, CB Cotton, Michael Dorgan and The Associated Press contributed to this report.