According to City Hall, New York has received more than 210,000 migrants since 2022. The sheer number has meant a huge impact on the city's shelter system. Even after the Adams administration established shelter limits for single adults to 30 days back in May, the migrant shelter population has hovered around 65,000 for months.
Migrants in shelters still face enormous strains. Reports have shown that many of them prefer to sleep on the streets, with many leaving shelters due to their remote locations or out of concerns about safety and living conditions in crowded facilities.
On Thursday, however, a new kind of threat for the migrant shelter population was revealed, as a paralegal with the Queens district attorney's office was charged with threatening to detonate an explosive device at a New York City migrant shelter after police discovered explosive materials in his home, The New York Times reports.
According to a complaint filed in Queens criminal court, Derek Klever, the accused, allegedly told a witness that he was building an explosive device using fireworks and nail gun cartridges to target a migrant shelter next to his Elmhurst, Queens apartment.
The witness reported that Mr. Klever expressed frustration over the migrants, claiming they were "having a party at 8 in the morning," and stated his intent to target the shelter. According to the complaint, Mr. Klever described the situation as a "war" and said he wished he "had a big enough one to blow them back to Venezuela."
Mr. Klever was arrested at his workplace on Tuesday, after which the police searched his home and found various suspicious materials, including fireworks, green wire, and a vase containing long nail cartridges and a black substance wrapped in tin foil. He was arraigned on Thursday, pleading not guilty to charges including making a terroristic threat and criminal possession of a weapon.
A spokesman for the Queens district attorney's office confirmed that Mr. Klever had been "arrested and terminated," and noted that the investigation was ongoing.
The target of Mr. Klever's alleged plot was Kamway Lodge, a temporary migrant shelter. The complaint also detailed that Mr. Klever had considered using a drone to drop an explosive, with the intention of maiming, not killing. He reportedly said the immigrants "should live in terror and fear every day."
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