Migrants start being housed in JFK Airport warehouse

More than 100 asylum seekers started being housed in a warehouse at JFK Airport on Wednesday, the Daily News has learned.

The asylum seekers, most of them from Latin American countries, were admitted Wednesday evening at JFK’s building 197, a U.S. Postal Service warehouse that has been retrofitted into a migrant housing site, according to a source directly familiar with the matter.

JFK cargo terminal building 197, a postal overflow facility, where upwards of 100 migrants were being housed as of Thursday. (Evan Simko-Bednarski)

The JFK warehouse is among a network of migrant “respite centers” operated by the administration that advocates have worried may not comply with the city’s right-to-shelter mandate, which requires access to showers, lockers, laundry and certain other basic amenities.

Tony, a Venezuelan migrant who spoke on condition that only his last name be used, told The News outside the warehouse on Thursday morning that he was bussed there the evening before.

“It’s okay, but I don’t want to be here,” Tony said, complaining that the site is in an inaccessible area.

Tony, who arrived in the city over two weeks ago after crossing into Texas from Mexico, said he has tried to find work in Manhattan, Brooklyn and Queens without luck. He said he’s hoping to be relocated to Albany, where he’s heard from fellow migrants that there may be more opportunity for work.

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