Soup Kitchen At The Sunset Park Pool: Brooklyn Welcomes Asylum Seekers

SUNSET PARK, NY — A soup kitchen is operating 24/7 outside Sunset Park's favorite swimming pool this August, as Brooklynites wait for answers about the mayor's plans to support a wave of people seeking asylum in New York City.

Masbia Relief, a crisis relief branch of Masbia Soup Kitchen, set up its welcome center outside the Sunset Park Recreation Center on Seventh Avenue Saturday to help support about 50 asylum seekers sent to the Brooklyn park by the city over the weekend.

Executive Director Alexander Rapaport told Patch thousands of locals are working to make their "new neighbors" feel welcome, donating hygiene products, clothes, towels, English language guides, board games and food.

"The willingness, the readiness of people to share... it opens your heart," Rapaport said.

Sunset Park's recreation center was closed to the public but the pool remained open, according to Gothamist. It was not immediately clear how long the shelters would remain.

A similar scene went down at Williamsburg's McCarren Park, where more than 50 asylum seekers had arrived by Wednesday, according to City Council Member Lincoln Restler and city officials.

Brooklynites donated clothes and raised more than $11,000 for McCarren Park's new guests, according to Gowanus Mutual Aid.

But Brooklyn's compassion also comes with serious concerns about the lack of transparency from City Hall, with protesters and lawmakers alike demanding answers they say they don't get.

"I have sent several requests for information from the Mayor," City Council Member Alexa Avilés said on Twitter. "[I] am still — 3 days later — waiting for a response."

Dozens of protesters arrived in Sunset Park Sunday, many first-generation immigrants themselves, who echoed the need for more information, organizer Ying Tan told Patch.

"We all come here to have a future," said Tan, the Republican candidate for a neighboring city council seat. "[But we] don't see any transparency between the community and the city."

Masbia's Rapaport agrees an inconsistent political narrative is adding to community strife.

"I do think there is confusion by the public," Rapaport said."Because of all the noise, the human side gets consumed by the politics."

Avilés, meanwhile, urged protesting locals to get involved in city solutions.

"I ask those organizing [protests] them to consider using that energy instead to help us advocate for adequate funding," Avilés said in a statement, "for fixing a broken immigration system."

The two Brooklyn hubs opened this weekend as the city continues to see an influx of asylum seekers.

The city had 57,300 migrants in its care as of Wednesday, according to Anne Williams-Isom, Deputy Mayor of Health and Human Services.

Since spring of 2022, the city had opened 198 shelter sites.

Mayor Eric Adams has continuously stressed that the city is out of space a week after a chaotic scene at the Roosevelt Hotel, a main intake center for asylum seekers, left many sleeping on the street, The City reported.

And on Monday, Adams announced a second attempt to open a mega-shelter on Randall's Island — which could soon house 2,000 single adult men.

"I understand the feeling that people are having on the ground," Adams said Wednesday. "But this is what out of space means. We have to find less than desirable locations for people to stay."