PUBLIC TESTIMONY
Testimony by Chandler Miranda, Mutual Aid Worker from Floyd Bennett Field Neighbors
4:58:31
·
121 sec
Chandler Miranda, a professor of education and mutual aid worker with Floyd Bennett Field Neighbors, testified about concerns regarding the shelter at Floyd Bennett Field. She urged the committee to prioritize closing and dismantling the shelter within the next 60 days due to its location on federal land and potential for misuse as a detention facility.
- Emphasized that Floyd Bennett Field is the only shelter on federal land with infrastructure similar to proposed detention facilities
- Expressed fear for families currently at Floyd Bennett Field with the new federal administration
- Called for New York City to take preemptive action to protect asylum seekers from potential detention
Chandler Miranda
4:58:31
Hi.
4:58:31
Thank you.
4:58:31
I know you're ready to go.
4:58:33
It's been a long day.
4:58:34
I'm here as a professor of education and as a mutual aid worker with Floyd Bennett Field Neighbors.
4:58:40
We are collective dedicated to assisting residents of Floyd Bennett Field, and we have done a lot of things including coat drives and backpack drives and things like that.
4:58:49
I really appreciate all of the things that have come up today, but I did not hear a lot about Floyd Bennett Field.
4:58:56
It is on federal land.
4:58:57
It is a soft sided tent structure.
4:59:01
It is the type of structure that the Trump administration is talking about using as a detention facility.
4:59:07
And so while we are talking about getting all of the newest New Yorkers into stable housing, in the the coming months, I would ask you to please, please, please prioritize the families at Floyd Bennett Field in the next 60 days.
4:59:22
We really would love to see the closure and removal of the infrastructure at Floyd Bennett Field so that it cannot be used as a detention facility by the federal administration.
4:59:32
It is to my knowledge the only shelter that exists on federal land right now and has the infrastructure that is being described as needed for large scale detention facilities near sanctuary cities.
4:59:47
The city leased the land from the federal government to establish the shelter at Floyd Bennett Field.
4:59:51
With the new administration, we are fearful for the families that are currently there.
4:59:56
As a sanctuary city, New York City must stand up to the federal government and anticipate what's to come.
5:00:02
The city must take preemptive action to prevent our newest neighbors from being detained or from the infrastructure put up by the city being used to detain people
Kat
5:00:13
in
Chandler Miranda
5:00:15
unhumane humane ways.
5:00:22
We again, we would just really like to ask the committee to please focus on Floyd Bennett Field and getting it closed and taken apart before January 20th.
5:00:31
Thank you.
