New York shelter curfew for immigrants: Times and penalties for non-compliance
The Mayor of New York, Eric Adams, imposes a curfew for migrants in shelters: When it will be in effect and penalties for not complying with the measure.
New York City Mayor Eric Adams has imposed a curfew for migrants living in the city’s shelters. According to his office, the measure comes as a response to the increase in street violence and crime, as well as the high number of people asking for charity on the streets and going from door-to-door at all hours of the night.
The curfew will come into effect this Tuesday, January 16. At the moment, the measure applies only to four shelters in the city: Judo Center (35th Avenue) and JFK Center (North Boundary Road) in Queens, as well as Stockton Center (Stockton Street) in Brooklyn and Lincoln Manhattan Center (Central Park North) in Manhattan.
However, Adams’ goal is to spread the curfew to many of the 200 shelters and respite centers in New York.
“The mayor has asked us to take a hard look at figuring out how we do it across the system. The question is to whether it makes sense to do it across the system,” said the Commissioner of Emergency Management of New York City, Zach Iscol, at the time of publicizing the new measure. “One of the things we’re always looking to do is figure out what can we do to keep people who are in our care safe, what can we do to have less of an impact on the communities where some of these shelters and respite centers are placed, and one tool of ours to do that is curfews.”
Curfew imposed on migrants from shelters in New York: Schedules and penalties for not complying
According to official information, the curfew for migrants residing in one of the aforementioned shelters will begin at 11:00 p.m. and will end at 6:00 a.m. (local time). Although the measure will only go into effect this Tuesday, the proposal has already generated quite a bit of controversy among the community, especially among those who go out to work at night, worried that the curfew will only affect their ability to earn money.
Penalties for being out past curfew
Given the various complaints from the community, the government has urged migrants who must leave shelters or respite centers outside the established hours request a special permit in advance. Such permits will be granted for work issues, legal appointments, travel issues or medical needs.
Those who are outside during curfew and do not have the aforementioned permit will have to face consequences. According to Iscol, people who violate the new measure three times within a 30-day period could be evicted from shelter centers.