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Right-wing media melt down over NYC using a public high school to shelter migrants overnight during a winter storm

Steve Bannon: “Is the government going to step in on a local basis and start forcing citizens to actually have to either remove their kids from school or hospitals or medical care and even their homes to house the massive invasion?”

Written by Ethan Collier, Payton Armstrong & Courtney Hagle

Published

Updated

Update (1/11/24): According to the city’s emergency management commissioner, police are investigating after James Madison High School received a bomb threat and multiple “hate calls" amid the wave of outrage on Wednesday.

A group of asylum-seekers were temporarily moved to shelter overnight in a New York City public school amid Tuesday’s storms, and the school held remote classes on Wednesday after the migrants had left and the building was being cleaned. Right-wing media responded to the story by lobbing dehumanizing attacks at the asylum-seekers, calling them “invader children,” suggesting that the move is a “tactic” akin to “the housing of British troops” before the American Revolution, and claiming that the move “shows that illegal immigrants are more valuable than United States citizens, including our children.”

  • A single high school closed on Wednesday to accommodate migrants during a winter storm in New York City

    • A single high school in New York moved to remote learning on Wednesday after accommodating migrants amid Tuesday's storm. CBS News reported: “On Tuesday, city officials announced nearly 2,000 asylum seekers from about 500 families would be bused from their tent shelters at Floyd Bennett Field to James Madison High due to concerns over the tents' ability to stand up to severe weather.” Classes were temporarily moved online after asylum-seekers sheltered in the school's gym and auditorium during the storm. The migrants left the school in the early hours of Wednesday morning, staying only overnight, and the building remained closed that day for cleaning. [CBS News, 1/10/23]
    • The storm brought “excessive rain and damaging winds” on Tuesday and was expected to continue through midday on Wednesday. As The New York Times reported, “The strongest winds were expected from 10 p.m. until 3 a.m., with gusts of up to 70 m.p.h. were along the coast. A citywide flood watch was in effect until noon Wednesday, and widespread power outages were expected.” [The New York Times, 1/9/24]

  • In response, right-wing media exploded with anger, dehumanizing vitriol, and exaggerations

    • Right-wing podcast host Steve Bannon called the migrant students “invader children” and compared the situation to “the housing of British troops” during the American Revolution. Bannon said: “In New York overnight, they removed students from New York public schools to put invader children, the children of the invaders, into their sanctuary city. I think 3,200 of them in different schools. Is this their new tact? This is what happened in the revolution, the housing of British troops. Is the government going to step in on a local basis and start forcing citizens to actually have to either remove their kids from school or hospitals or medical care and even their homes to house the massive invasion that’s not stopping?” [Real America’s Voice, War Room, 1/10/24]
    • Turning Point USA’s Charlie Kirk said “students getting kicked out of schools to house illegals in New York” shows that “Joe Biden is turning America into a third world hell hole.” [Twitter/X, 1/10/24]
    • On Fox, frequent guest and National Border Patrol Council President Brandon Judd said the story “clearly shows that illegal immigrants are more valuable than United States citizens, including our children,” and suggested additional border security. Judd said: “This is just another example of why this border security issue is so out of control and why we have to get our borders under control so that we don't have to face these issues going forward.” Fox anchor Harris Faulkner also fearmongered about the story, saying, “Here’s the point: They can do this any time, and it's clear now, as they said, what their priority is.” [Fox News, The Faulkner Focus, 1/10/24]
    • Discussing the story in an interview with Rep. Elise Stefanik (R-NY), Fox & Friends co-host Brian Kilmeade suggested it’s “a tactic” to put migrant children in schools with “working class areas.” Kilmeade added, “They don't want to put these kids in rich areas where they have huge, fantastic facilities, maybe a lot more room. They put them in working class areas. That is a tactic, isn’t it?” [Fox News, Fox & Friends, 1/10/24]
    • Right-wing influencer Benny Johnson amplified the story, posting cable coverage from Newsmax and writing, “Illegal migrants force American students in New York into remote ‘COVID’ learning after school evacuated to be used as a migrant SHELTER.” [Twitter/X, 1/10/24]