The New York Police Department said there is a migrant crime wave in the city. At the city’s largest migrant shelter on Randall’s Island, a recent altercation between police and migrants was caught on camera, Thursday, Feb. 15.
In the video, recorded from inside the shelter and posted to social media, migrants are seen throwing large objects at officers. Seconds later, there is a migrant on the ground surrounded by officers.
Police said the migrant man was resisting arrest and fighting with a security guard after being asked to leave because the shelter said he wasn’t supposed to be there.
The struggle to apprehend the man continued for several minutes. Officers carried him out by his arms and legs. More objects flew at officers before they rushed for the doors.
The migrant was arrested but prosecutors declined to move forward with the case, according to sources who spoke with the New York Post.
This isn’t an isolated event at the shelter on Randall’s Island. There have been several other altercations leading to a permanent police presence at the facility.
Since the start of 2024, a migrant was stabbed to death by another migrant in the food line. Two weeks later, a security guard was stabbed in the neck but survived — 18 migrants were taken into custody following the incident. One migrant was arrested after fighting police while intoxicated, sending an officer to the hospital with injuries.
While these are some of the incidents that have happened on the island, another altercation caught on camera in Times Square received national attention after migrants assaulted officers in the streets.
Police are warning of a rise in crime related to migrants, but New York City Mayor Eric Adams said the majority of them are not part of the problem.
“The overwhelming majority of migrants in our care came to our city in search of a better life and the American dream,” Adams said. “The small number of those disrupting that journey for the rest of the migrants in our care by acting violently will face enforcement to the fullest extent of the law.”
