Former NYPD academy with active indoor gun range to house illegal migrants after city faced 'no other options'

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A former New York Police Department (NYPD) training academy is being used to house hundreds of new illegal immigrants seeking asylum in New York, after the city reportedly reached its limit of available temporary migrant housing centers. 

The migrants reportedly began moving into the facility in the early hours of Friday morning, just days after Gov. Greg Abbott, R-Texas, resumed sending buses of illegal immigrants to Democrat-run sanctuary cities, including the Big Apple.

"Last night, hundreds of asylum seekers arrived in New York City, after hundreds more arrived the day before, and thousands more in the days and week earlier. Once again, we are stepping up, in the absence of a national solution to this national crisis and are coming up with our own decompression strategy," Fabien Levy, press secretary for Mayor Eric Adams, told Fox News Digital Friday. 

While the former NYPD facility will reportedly only provide temporary housing for asylum seekers, law enforcement sources raised concerns about safety because some police officers still use an indoor shooting range located inside the building where the migrants are staying, according to the New York Post.

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Mayor's Office of Immigrant Affairs Commissioner Manuel Castro (C) a former illegal immigrant himself, welcomes migrants arriving at the Port Authority Bus Terminal in Midtown Manhattan.  (Luiz C. Ribeiro )

When asked about what security measures would be taken at academy turned migrant shelter, a spokesperson for the NYPD told Fox News Digital that "the department made available limited space within one of its facilities for a short period to assist the city in dealing with this emergency. As this is a police facility, we are taking all necessary steps to ensure security at the location."

It is unclear how long the migrants will reside at the former academy, but they are expected to stay for at least a week as the city scrambles to attend to the influx of migrants.

Levy reiterated Adams' repeated calls for federal support to control the migrant crisis, claiming that activists are "taking advantage of city and state laws and luring them here with false promises," as the city reaches the limit of shelters that can be opened in the city.

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"New York City has single-handedly opened up 122 emergency shelters and eight large-scale humanitarian relief centers in the last year. But we are now receiving reports that a network of activists are organizing large-scale arrivals of asylum seekers to New York City via plane, bus, and other modes of transportation — taking advantage of city and state laws and luring them here with false promises," the mayor's office told Fox.

Levy also revealed that with hundreds of new migrants arriving in NYC just this week, the city "reached our limit of new shelters we could open. We currently have no other options but to temporarily house recent arrivals in gyms."

Migrants MANHATTAN - NY - 05/03/2023 - Recently arrived Migrants are pictured in the processing area at Port Authority Bus Terminal in Midtown Manhattan. Texas Gov. Greg Abbott has resumed a controversial initiative whereby his administration charters entire buses and uses them to transport newly-arrived asylum seekers to Democrat-run cities, including New York. (Photo by Luiz C. Ribeiro for NY Daily News via Getty Images) (Luiz C. Ribeiro )

The new placement adds to the growing list of New York City buildings, hotels, and facilities being transformed into migrant camps to house illegal immigrants on the taxpayers dime.

Adams repeatedly labels the ongoing situation as a "crisis," recently blaming the "irresponsibility of the White House" and "the Republican Party in Washington" for the nearly 60,000 illegal migrants who moved into the city.

New York City Mayor Eric Adams has called on the Biden administration for help in dealing with the influx of migrants seeking shelter in his city. (Lev Radin)

"We’ve been asking for support for a year," Levy told Fox. "And now with Title 42 being lifted next week and with hundreds of asylum seekers already arriving in New York City every day, we desperately need federal and state support more than ever to quickly manage this crisis."

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According to a memo from the New York City Office of Management and Budget, the Big Apple alone is already estimated to drop $4.2 billion in migrant-related costs by the end of fiscal year 2024 as they continue calling on the Biden administration for support.