Hundreds protest potential new migrant site at former NYC senior citizen homeBy Jared Downing and
Jorge Fitz-Gibbon
August 20, 2023
More than 200 raucous demonstrators rallied outside a former Staten Island nursing home Sunday, chanting, “Close the border!” to protest its possible conversion to an emergency shelter for migrants.
“Don’t call them immigrants. Call them ‘illegals,’ ” Ray Thaisz, 66, said outside the currently shuttered former Island Shores Senior Residences in Midland Beach. “I don’t mind people coming here, but they’re coming here illegally, and then we have to support them.”
Another local, retired nurse Claire O’Toole, said she just didn’t want the asylum seekers housed in her neighborhood.
“I have four grandchildren,” said O’Toole, 64. “I don’t want this by my house. Why would I want that worry? They want to put 800 men here, but we have no idea who they are, period. Are they rapists? Are they murderers? Are they vaccinated? Do they speak English?”
Guardian Angels founder and former failed mayoral candidate Curtis Sliwa organized the protest and was among about a dozen demonstrators later arrested by cops for blocking traffic.
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Source:
https://nypost.com/2023/08/20/hundreds-protest-potential-new-migrant-site-at-former-nyc-senior-citizen-home/