Posts mislead on temporary NYC school closure to shelter migrants

"SHOCKING FOOTAGE out of NYC tonight shows children being evicted from their school so that James Madison School can be used to house illegal immigrants," says a March 16, 2024 Instagram post from an account promoting conspiracy theories about the "great replacement" of white Americans.

"American children out one door and the product of Biden's border crisis in the other," the post continues.

Text over the video, which features footage of security directing migrants off buses and into a building, adds: "Shocking video shows students evicted for illegal migrants."

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Screenshot from Instagram taken March 19, 2024

The text-overlaid clip surfaced repeatedly across Instagram and other platforms such as TikTok in the months since Congressman Wesley Hunt, a Republican from Texas, first posted it in January.

But the claims of children being permanently "evicted" from their school in favor of migrants are misleading.

The incident, which took place in January, saw James Madison High School open its doors for one night to house nearly 2,000 migrants who were evacuated from a tent shelter where they had been living, which is near the coast and was at risk of high winds and flooding during a storm. The school then pivoted to online learning the following day.

"The school went remote for one day during the storm," New York City Public Schools press secretary Nathaniel Styer told AFP in a March 19 email.

James Madison High School Principal Jodie Cohen notified parents on January 9 (archived here) that the school was "being activated as a temporary overnight respite shelter due to dangerous wind conditions at Floyd Bennett Field," a former airfield that was converted into a migrant tent encampment. The school later announced that the following day, January 10, it would be closing its building and holding classes virtually (archived here).

On January 10, the school said in-person instruction would resume the next day and that New York City authorities had checked the building for safety (archived here).

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Map of New York City showing location of Floyd Bennett Field migrant camp on a former airfield in south Brooklyn (AFP / Sabrina BLANCHARD, Corin FAIFE)

The school's service as an emergency shelter drew backlash from some parents, politicians and onlookers that became so intense the school received hate calls and a bomb threat, according to US media.

Aries Dela Cruz, executive director of public information for the New York City Emergency Management Department, said in a March 19 email that buses transporting migrant families arrived at the high school the evening of January 9 and that the families left the building hours later, returning to Floyd Bennett Field overnight on January 10.

"No students were 'evicted' during our evacuation, however the school went remote that morning out of caution," he said. "The relocation of families was temporary and took place during peak high wind period."

He added that the school "has not been used to house or temporarily relocate migrants since that time."

The city's emergency management commissioner also said shortly after the evacuation that he did not expect James Madison High School to be used in such a manner again.

AFP has fact-checked other misinformation about migration here.