STATEN ISLAND, N.Y. — Mayor Eric Adams stood by Monday as a local non-profit leader said during a press briefing that two Staten Island churches would soon house migrants, but on Tuesday, Republican elected officials disputed those comments.
Assemblyman Michael Reilly (R-South Shore) tweeted a statement calling the Advance/SILive.com’s report on those statements inaccurate, citing unnamed city officials.
Reilly’s post, however, did not note the remarks came from Rev. Terry Troia, the head of local non-profit organization Project Hospitality, at a city announcement about a new program using houses of worship to shelter asylum seekers in the five boroughs.
“For the last 40 years, Project Hospitality, an interfaith effort on Staten Island, has coordinated faith-based shelters for people in need for homeless people on the streets. Forty years. Even through the pandemic, we were the only houses of worship in the city of New York that stayed open every night to provide for people in need, despite the risk to the volunteers that may have been exposed to COVID in those nights,” Troia said.
“It’s that work that brings us to today to say that we have at least two houses of worship on Staten Island who have stepped forward, and they will be opening up their doors to people in need who have come to this country seeking refuge.”
Those words, said while the city’s chief executive looked on, apparently contradict with the understanding of Reilly’s unnamed officials.
The assemblyman said his conversations with the officials confirmed the city’s initiative to shelter migrants in houses of worship, but that no sites had yet to be selected in the application-based process, which has seen no application received from Staten Island institutions.
“I understand the complexity of this situation, as do many of the constituents I speak with daily, but these decisions must be made in good faith by city officials,” Reilly said. “That means bringing all relevant…
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