Brooklyn high school receives bomb threat after sheltering migrants during storm

Jan. 10, 2024, 2:28 p.m.

The decision to shelter migrants at James Madison High School, which held remote classes Wednesday, prompted a torrent of criticism from parents, elected officials and even Elon Musk.

Mayor Eric Adams looks on as people sleep on the floor of a school gymnasium.

A Brooklyn high school that housed nearly 2,000 migrants for one night during a powerful rainstorm received a bomb threat and multiple “hate calls,” the city’s top emergency management official said Wednesday.

The threats came amid a wave of outrage among some residents, Republican politicians and even the richest man in the world, Elon Musk, over the decision to house the migrants at James Madison High School in Marine Park after they were evacuated Tuesday afternoon from a nearby tent shelter at Floyd Bennett Field.

“These actions are not only deplorable, they are also criminal offenses,” said Zach Iscol, the city’s emergency management commissioner, during a virtual briefing. “This administration stands united against any hate or intimidation.”

He did not provide further details about the nature of the threats, which he said police were investigating.

Mayor Eric Adams did not attend Iscol’s briefing, but when asked about the bomb threat at an unrelated press conference later Wednesday, he defended city officials' use of the school as standard procedure for an emergency.

“You utilize all of your assets,” Adams said. “This is what we’ve always done.”

The mayor visited James Madison overnight to monitor the situation, and commended officials and community members for helping the migrants, many of them children.

“This city is never going to do anything that puts children in harm’s way,” Adams added, swiping at protesters who showed up at the school Wednesday morning as "a fringe group."

The migrants returned to the shelter at the former federal airfield by 4:15 a.m. Nevertheless, James Madison operated via remote learning Wednesday, fueling anger among some elected officials and parents who said the migrant crisis was coming at the expense of students.

“Let’s be clear about one thing: Remote learning equals no learning,” City Councilmember Vicki Paladino said in a statement.

State Assemblymember Michael Novakhov of Brooklyn promoted a protest outside the school slamming the city’s “decision to prioritize migrants over our communities, budget, safety, and even the education of our children.”

Videos posted to social media captured an ugly scene at James Madison on Tuesday evening as the city bused migrants to the school.

“How does it feel that you kicked all the kids out of school tomorrow?” a woman who identified herself as “an aggravated mother” yelled at migrant families.

Elon Musk, who owns the social media platform X, formerly Twitter, and is worth $245 billion, also weighed in.

“This is what happens when you run out of hotel rooms,” he wrote on the platform. “Soon, cities will run out of schools to vacate. Then they will come for your homes.”

Inside the high school, many migrant adults and children slept on the floor of an auditorium, despite city officials’ pledge to supply cots. Others opted to sleep in seats.

"Some families stayed up all night," migrant Yenifer Vargas, 29, told Gothamist in Spanish.

She said she's been staying at Floyd Bennett Field for a month since arriving from Venezuela with her husband and three children, ages 4, 7 and 10.

At James Madison, she said, they slept on the floor.

"When we got there, my kids asked me ‘where are the beds?’” said Vargas, adding her children were too exhausted and achy to go to school Wednesday morning. "My kids were crying because they were uncomfortable."

City officials acknowledged conditions at the high school were less than ideal but said schools are often used in emergency circumstances. They added that around 70,000 migrants have strained the city’s shelter system beyond capacity, with thousands of new arrivals coming each week.

Iscol said he did not foresee the city using James Madison as an emergency shelter again, amid forecasts of additional storms later this week.

Adams has faced criticism from both ends of the political spectrum for housing families at Floyd Bennett Field, a far-flung former airfield in Jamaica Bay that is prone to flooding.

"No family, no kid should be here, this is not a place for families," Vargas said.

This story has been updated with Mayor Eric Adams' comments. Karen Yi and Jessica Gould contributed reporting to this story.

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