Opposition grows in the Bronx as conservative activists argue the shelter depletes resources and threatens public safety
A newly opened 2,200-bed migrant shelter has triggered conservative backlash, turning a local grievance about the concentration of social services into a heated debate around city resources and public safety.
A coalition of right-wing activists, Bronx republicans, conservative party members, and an east Bronx city councilwoman are condemning the shelter beside the Bruckner Expressway in Port Morris, calling it the city’s latest effort to make the South Bronx the “dumping ground” of New York City.
Political controversy surrounding the shelter erupted when Christopher Reid, chairman of the Bronx caucus of the New York Young Republican Club, sat down with co-host of Fox and Friends Ainsley Earhardt on Feb. 13.
“I’ve been to these neighborhoods, I’ve walked around and nobody wants it there,” Reid told Earhardt, predicting that this shelter’s opening could boost Trump’s popularity in historically blue areas like the Bronx.
“The four years that we endured under Biden, the desire to preserve one’s nation and put patriotism above all, was criticized, and it’s the opposite of the platform that these Democrats are fighting for,” Reid added.
“I think, for the people of the Bronx, in particular it goes to show their being ignored further, and the longer that we continue to put others first and sort of sideline American citizens, the easier it’s going to be for Trump to get support from the boroughs.”
Bronx residents voiced opposition to the shelter before the controversy gained national attention.
Resistance began on Jan. 28, when New York City’s Office of Asylum Seekers Operations announced that the shelter would open at the end of February, sparking criticism from Community Board 1 members and residents who objected to the city’s decision to place the shelter in Port Morris without their input.
Critics argue the Bronx already hosts too many shelters, with a 2021 city report showing 129 shelters—more than even Queens, the city’s most populous borough, adding to complaints about an uneven distribution of social services.
Opponents also express concerns about public safety, warning that they believe the all-male shelter could lead to a spike in crime.
Others argue the shelter gives an unfair advantage to immigrants, even though native-born New Yorkers have greater access to government assistance, including the city’s shelter system, work authorization, and benefits like Medicare, Medicaid and the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, also known as SNAP.
Daniel Henry, the Director of External Affairs at the NYC’s Mayor’s Office of Asylum Seeker Operations said the opening of the Bruckner shelter is part of a broader strategy to manage the city’s migrant population more efficiently.
Henry said the city is currently housing 44,500 migrants as of Feb. 22, 2025, down from 56,000 on Dec.1, 2024.
“While there has been a significant decrease in the overall number of people arriving in New York, the need to provide shelter for more than 44,000 people at their most vulnerable moment still exists,” Henry said. “And we continually evaluate our capacity to meet the needs of individuals and families who have come under our care on a regular basis.”
He said the city launched a plan last June to close 53 migrant shelters by June 2025, even as it provides housing for the 44,000 migrants currently in the city’s care.
“Bruckner will be a bridge to allow the city to continue to right-size populations in neighborhoods that previously held a significantly larger number of shelters and migrants during the emergency phase of the city’s response,” he added.
Despite the city’s assurances, four protests have been held outside the shelter on Bruckner Boulevard and the corner of E. 141st Street and one in front of Council member Diana Ayala’s Bronx office on St. Ann’s Avenue.
The most recent protest, at the shelter on Feb. 19, had roughly 20 protesters, including members of the Bronx Conservative Party, political candidates on the Republican/Conservative party ticket, waving signs that said “The Bronx is not a dumping ground.”
Leading the protest was Bishop Boyde Singletary, pastor and founder of virtual congregation, Alpha and Omega Church of Our Lord Jesus Christ, who argued the space should be used to house displaced women and families instead of migrants.
“They originally had said that this was supposed to be for affordable housing and for families with children but they have duped us,” Singletary said. “They have bamboozled us. They have put milk over our eyes and have lied to us, and have said they are going to move in 2,200 migrant men. They continue to keep dumping on the Bronx.”
Singletary and other protestors insisted that residents are being overlooked, with resources being directed to migrants instead of people living in the borough.
“There are 500 families paying for hotels night after night because they’ve been burned out,” Singletary said. “With all the fires happening in the Bronx, why not use this space for those families instead?”
Another speaker, Tyreek Goodman, who is running for City Council on the Republican and Conservative party ticket, criticized the shelter as a “money grab” by the city. Meanwhile, Guardian Angels founder Curtis Sliwa pledged to lead a “civil disobedience” in protest of the shelter.
“You need to take a stand and sometimes they do not understand anything until you make that final stand and you say ‘No, we’re not letting them [immigrants] in,” Sliwa said.
In addition to the protests, Bronx elected officials are echoing similar sentiments.
Council member Kristy Marmormato, a Republican who represents Morris Park, West Farms, Westchester Square, and Throgs Neck, raised objections during a Feb.13 meeting with President Donald Trump’s Border Czar Tom Homan.
Marmormato issued a statement the same day, saying the shelter threatened public safety, strained resources, and “disregards the needs of hardworking New Yorkers.”
“This administration continues to put the interests of unvetted migrants over the safety and well-being of our communities,” she wrote. “I made it clear to Mr. Homan that this shelter is unacceptable, and he has pledged to escalate this issue at the highest levels. We will fight this every step of the way.”
The northeast Bronx-based council member also said she and Homan discussed reversing New York’s long-standing sanctuary city policies to curb what they called “a magnet for unchecked migration.”
“Our neighborhoods should not be dumping ground for failed policies,” she added.
According to Henry, the shelter will be managed by the Mayor’s Office of Housing and Recovery Operations. While city officials didn’t clarify how long the shelter will remain open, they referred to it as temporary housing. Security measures, including guards and a curfew for those living in the shelter, are in place, according to the city.
Still, Singletary maintains he’s not anti-immigrant. “We’re not against migrants,” he said in an interview. “We don’t know anything about these men. It’s very frightening and it’s not a good feeling at all.”
With the shelter’s doors officially open, Singletary, along with Sliwa and members of the Guardian Angels, started patrolling the outside of the shelter on Friday, Feb. 28, with more surveying planned in the future to ensure everything is “running smoothly.”
“People don’t even feel safe walking that way,” Singletary added.
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