A youth soccer match scheduled at a public field in East Harlem, New York, was abruptly canceled when a group of migrants refused to vacate the field.
The Manhattan Kickers, a 17-year-old boys travel team, were geared up for a match against FA New York at Thomas Jefferson Park on April 14, but the game was delayed and ultimately canceled after 30 grown men took over the field and refused to leave, according to the New York Post.
“I directly asked them to leave and some of them kind of took it into consideration, but then four or five of them said, ‘You know what, f*** it, we don’t have to leave, we can do whatever we want,” Kickers coach Erik Johansson said.
According to the Post, the men had limited English proficiency and appeared to be migrants from various African countries.
As part of the effort to defuse the situation, police officers on the scene demanded to see the city permit from the club team.
“When you show up with two teams in uniform, a ref and two coaches, usually nobody is asking to see your permit,” Johansson said.
By the time his assistant managed to send over the Kickers’ permit, the game was already delayed by 30 minutes, and the boys did not feel safe, according to the Post.
“Even when the game is over, you don’t know if they’re waiting for you, so even if the cops kicked them out, it may not be over. So we just all agreed, this is too dangerous,” Johansson said.
The coach, originally from Sweden — a country that has also faced a substantial increase in immigration — said confrontations like these on sports fields were not uncommon there.
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“I have seen this before, I know how bad it can get,” Johansson said.
Maud Maron, whose son is on the team, told the Post, “It’s so frustrating that the guys who refused to follow the rules won.”
She said it is one of the signs New York is becoming “lawless.”
According to the U.K.’s Daily Mail, the city has welcomed more than 175,000 migrants and is housing about 67,500 of them, with a policy of limiting their stay in shelters to 30 days to manage overcrowding.
Mayor Eric Adams, a Democrat, has complained about the Biden administration’s handling of the surge of immigrants.
“We are exceptionally proud of the dignity and respect we’ve been able to provide these migrants, as well as everyone else in our care, but, make no mistake, New York City should have never been left largely on its own to manage this national humanitarian crisis,” mayoral spokeswoman Amaris Cockfield told USA Today on April 16.
“As we have said repeatedly, the federal government needs to finish the job they started by providing an immediate pathway to work for the tens of thousands of migrants they let into this country,” Cockfield said.
Adams has projected that New York — which has been a “sanctuary city” since 1989 — will allocate $12 billion over the next three years to manage the surge of migrants.
This funding is going toward establishing large-scale emergency shelters, leasing hotels and delivering various government services to the migrants.
According to the Daily Mail, in the same week the soccer game was canceled, more than 1,000 migrants — largely from Haiti and Guinea — convened outside a City Council oversight hearing focused on the experiences of black migrants.
They gathered to demand additional aid, improved shelter conditions and work permits.
