A surprise raid by the police department in search of weapons and narcotics alarmed thousands of immigrant asylum seekers staying at a shelter on Randall’s Island.
“I was scared… as I told you, I don’t know what’s happening. I see so many drones, and there are also police in the water,” said Alexander Abreu.
They say that around noon they started taking everyone out of the shelter.
“We don’t know if it has anything to do with immigration or a crime,” Alexander added.
According to NYPD sources, the operation was aimed at searching for drugs and any other illegal items for the safety of its occupants.
In the operation, they used the canine unit to detect narcotics and firearms. Authorities reported that they found several packages during the inspection.
They are now waiting for a search warrant from the city’s special narcotics prosecutor’s office to search them.
“All those tables were here in the roundabout, and most of those people were selling all kinds of drugs. So both the security inside the shelter and those outside, which is the police here, turn a blind eye,” said Pilar López, an asylum seeker.
“Let them do what they have to do, the law is the law and justice is justice, it must be respected,” said Esther Villamizar, another asylum seeker.
The operation comes after a Venezuelan immigrant was killed and two others were injured in a shooting near the Randalls Island migrant shelter last week.
“I saw it, I was there nearby,” said Iliana Trillo.
-And how did you feel at that moment?
“It was horrible, terrifying, but I didn’t have the option to scream, cry, run, none of that. I walked normally, but I got really nervous afterwards,” said Iliana.
Legal Aid and the Coalition for the Homeless said in a statement that moving and conducting a police raid on a shelter with 3,000 immigrants, despite a heat warning, raises serious constitutional questions.
“I am here in New York not because I want to be, I am here in New York because there is a humanitarian crisis in our country and now we have a fraud that we as Venezuelans won,” said Juan Carlos Madrid, an asylum seeker.
During this police operation there were no arrests and the occupants were able to enter the shelter around 4 pm.
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