With beds scarce and winter bearing down, a tent camp grows outside NYC’s largest migrant shelter
By PHILIP MARCELO
Associated Press
NEW YORK (AP) — An unsanctioned tent camp is growing outside New York City’s largest migrant shelter. New immigrants trying to earn a living are also operating a makeshift bazaar, selling coffee, snacks and other items. The shelter is on Randall’s Island, where the Harlem and East rivers meet along the Manhattan coast. The area was the site of a fatal stabbing earlier this month and a large brawl broke out there last week and ended with more than a dozen arrests. Immigrants and their advocates say the city has deliberately made life on Randall’s Island untenable to discourage people from staying. They say conditions allow small frustrations to fester.
