Biden administration officials allowed a Brooklyn migrant encampment housing 2,000 people to operate with severe fire safety deficiencies despite repeated warnings from local fire officials and lawmakers, according to emails obtained through public records requests.
Critical Safety Failures Documented
The Floyd Bennett Field facility operated from November 2023 to January 2025 with the nearest working fire hydrant located between 2,500 and 3,000 feet away, according to FDNY Deputy Assistant Chief Dean Koester. In a July 2024 email to National Park Service official Minka Sendich, Koester warned that establishing a water source during a fire emergency would take approximately 30 minutes. The hydrants on site had not received routine maintenance since 1972, when the airfield became part of the Gateway National Recreation Area.
Fire officials identified additional hazards inside the encampment’s five large tents. Koester described the sleeping arrangements as maze-like, creating evacuation challenges during emergencies. No sprinkler systems existed on the property. He explicitly warned that the lack of fire protection placed shelter residents in perilous conditions, though National Park Service officials continued describing the facility as clean and well-run in their internal communications.
Local Officials Raised Alarms
Democratic Assemblywoman Jaime Williams filed litigation against New York City in January 2024 after receiving numerous complaints from nearby residents. Her office documented incidents of asylum seekers panhandling for money, food, and clothing in surrounding neighborhoods. Williams questioned why migrants needed to solicit resources if administrators claimed all their needs were being met inside the facility. She joined other Brooklyn and Queens officials in warning that the park was becoming a dumping ground deteriorating faster than anyone imagined.
The situation escalated when James Madison High School students were displaced from their classrooms after migrants took shelter in the school gymnasium during severe weather in January 2024. Then-Mayor Eric Adams ultimately shut down the encampment that same month, ending operations at what had devolved into a shantytown within a national historic site.
What This Means
The Center to Advance Security in America obtained the documents through aggressive public oversight efforts. The organization’s James Fitzpatrick stated that Biden administration border policies particularly impacted working-class families in cities with large minority populations. NPS Gateway National Recreation Area superintendent Jen Nersesian had toured the facility in January 2024 and described it as clean despite acknowledging cramped, bare-bones living conditions. The disconnect between official assessments and documented safety hazards raises questions about federal oversight of emergency migrant housing facilities nationwide.
