said the city’s use of police stations as temporary housing for the growing population of migrants seeking asylum has been a “burden” on the nation’s second-largest police department.
Some new arrivals stay inside police station lobbies, many sleeping close together on cardboard and sharing bathrooms. Others congregate just outside the stations, sleeping on mattresses or in tents on the sidewalks and adjacent lots. Volunteers provide food, clothes, hygiene items and medical care. “Those officers now have to go out and serve the public,” he said. “This could have a negative effect on our officers.”and to stop using police stations and airports as temporary shelters. But there has been pushback on that idea as well.
Some police stations have been criticized for their handling of the new arrivals, many of who have experienced trauma and deep poverty. Many migrants are from Venezuela, where ain the past decade has pushed millions into poverty. More than 7 million have left that country, often risking a harrowing route to the United States.of sexual misconduct involving a migrant teen and an officer. The investigation was closed when no victim or corroborating witnesses could be found.