On Randall’s Island, a growing divide between sheltered migrants and neighbors

WNYC News

After a massive tent shelter for migrants arrived on Randall’s Island in August last year, Liz Hurtado said she changed her weekly running route to avoid the new crowds.

Split Here

She cited catcalls from the newcomers and zig-zagging moped traffic on the pedestrian bridge linking the island across the river to East Harlem, where she lives. Other shelter neighbors said they also wanted to avoid the homeless encampments that sprang up along the river banks.

When Hurtado saw NYPD posters go up in July soliciting information about a fatal shooting nearby, she said she wondered if she should stop going to the island altogether, as some of her neighbors say they have done.

“It’s hard not to judge,” said Hurtado, 37. “It’s hard to stay neutral.”

Fellow East Harlemite Lisbeth Quiñones, 51, put it more bluntly: “They don’t keep the park clean … They ruined it.”

That message has trickled down to migrants living at the 2,200-person shelter. A viral TikTok in Spanish calls the site “The Hell of Randall’s Island.” Juan Miguel, a migrant from the Dominican Republic, said he gets scowls from passersby.

“To me, they’re racists,” said Miguel, 34. “They look at you like you’re not a person.”

Read the full story at Gothamist.com.