It’s not just in Aurora, Colorado. Now we see that a neighborhood in Brooklyn, New York, has been rendered uninhabitable by a group of squatters who have taken over an empty house and are “renting” rooms to illegal aliens. Law-abiding residents are being forced to abandon their own homes and relocate.
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The worst of New York City’s worlds have collided on one Brooklyn block – where junkie squatters rented out an abandoned home to migrants, whose dozens of apparently stolen bikes and scooters sparked an inferno that scorched two neighboring homes, The Post has learned.
But even the Aug. 17 conflagration couldn’t keep the squatters away from the East 36th Street abode in Marine Park.
“For the next two days, people were coming back again and again,” a 45-year-old neighbor told The Post, even after the city boarded up the second-floor windows and poured cement across the first-floor doors and windows.
Neighbors estimated around 10 junkies and an unknown number of migrant squatters frequented the dilapidated two-story, three-bedroom duplex, which was built in 1925.
The fire and some arrests that have been made on or near the property seem to have driven the worst malefac tors away, for the moment. However, residents are concerned that they will return and that the municipal government doesn’t seem willing or able to decisively deal with the situation.
What’s more, there is an “unknown number of migrant squatters” involved, and it’s near-certain that these people are in the country illegally. Where is Immigration and Customs Enforcement? Why have these people not been rounded up and exported? Perhaps this is because New York, state and city, are “sanctuary” jurisdictions? There is, we must admit, a certain amount of “you’ve made your bed, now lie in it” here.
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Previously on RedState: Armed Gangs of Illegal Aliens Taking Over Aurora, CO Apartment Buildings – and Nothing Is Being Done
UPDATE: The Mayor of Aurora, CO Speaks on Apartment Building Takeovers by Armed Gangs
While some concerned city council members are involved, the municipal government seems to be dragging its feet in dealing with the issue, as the NY Post story linked above reports:
Councilwoman Mercedes Narcisse said her office was contacted about “the ongoing and deeply troubling issue of squatters and drug activity” on the property for the first time on the day of the fire.
“More must be done to protect our neighborhoods from the dangers posed by neglected properties. I strongly support the need for stronger state laws that empower communities and homeowners to address the problem of squatting effectively,” she said.
A mayoral spokesperson said, “We are going to review laws surrounding squatting to protect homeowners in the city, particularly working-class New Yorkers, and we will look for ways to partner with the City Council to resolve this issue.”
“Review laws”? People are being driven from their homes, the homes they are paying for, the homes in which they have invested much of their income and years of their lives. What about the laws regarding the city’s obligation to protect the liberty and property of our citizens?
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First Aurora, Colorado, now Brooklyn, New York – where else is this kind of thing going on? Sadly, this is another symptom of the ongoing decline of our American cities. We have seen the results of laws reducing criminal penalties for various offenses, we have seen laws that make it more difficult to evict squatters, and we have seen almost four years of the Biden/Harris administration’s disastrous border policies.
Our cities are self-destructing, the various city governments don’t seem able to arrest the decline, and there’s no telling where this will all end.