A 94-year-old US Army veteran blasted his Staten Island homestay for kicking him out then breaking a deal to welcome immigrants – saying it was “unfair” he was sent packing.
Frank Tammaro was given less than two months’ notice that he and 53 other seniors would have to move out of Island Shores Residences in March, and had to make other living arrangements.
“I was horrified,” Tammaro, a lifelong New Yorker, told Fox News. “It’s not a joke to be thrown out of the house.”
He later moved to another facility, but after he fell, he and his daughter Barbara Annunziata decided it was best for him to stay with her and her children.
Under his care the family discovered that Island Shores was being converted into immigrant housing — and would not reopen as another assisted living facility as promised.
“I don’t understand at all,” Annunziata said. “It’s not fair to anyone.
“These immigrants, they get everything. They get everything and I can get nothing [Tammaro],” she said, adding that she had trouble getting insurance to pay for home health aides.
“Meanwhile, [migrants] get everything And he deserves nothing.”
GOP leaders from the district have slammed the city and the nonprofit that owns the facility for what they call a “shady deal” to house immigrants.
Frank Tammaro, 94, was given less than two months to move out of Island Shores Residences in March. Fox News Digital The Island Shores Residences on Staten Island are now known as the Midland Beach Migrant Center. Fox News Digital
“New York City has resorted to the practice of opening migrant shelters and placing migrants in shelters under the cover of darkness,” said Assemblyman Michael Tannousis (R-East Shore/Brooklyn), at a press conference on September 21.
“They didn’t inform the community, and they didn’t inform the elected officials. This has created panic among the constituencies.”
Homes for the Homes, the building’s new owner, told Fox News it intends to sell Island Shores “to focus on its core mission of serving homeless families” and that the preferred buyer “will be another senior operator.”
However, Homes for the Homes then struck a deal in August with City Hall to move migrants to the facility, now known as the Midland Beach Migrant Center.
Tammaro first spoke out against his treatment in a September press conference, after Homes for the Homes struck a deal to convert the assisted living facility into a migrant center. Gabriella Bass
A spokesperson for the Department of Social Services (DSS) told the Staten Island Advance in September that the former senior living facility will be turned into a migrant shelter for 113 families with private rooms and meal service.
The decision led angry Staten Islanders to protest in front of the shelter, with some physically blocking the arrival of MTA buses carrying asylum seekers.
The group of protesters stopped traffic after intercepting a bus on September 19. A total of 10 people were arrested, with nine issued summonses for disorderly conduct.
A 48-year-old man, identified as Vadim Belyakov, was charged for allegedly assaulting an officer who was attempting to make an arrest.
Mayor Adams called the chaotic demonstration an “ugly display” by a small group of New Yorkers.
Tammaro’s daughter, Barbara Annunziata, claimed, “These immigrants, they got everything.” Fox News Digital Fifteen immigrant families moved into a former assisted living facility in September. Fox News Digital
But one protester, Sal Monforte, who lives 200 feet from the shelter, insisted to The Post that the demonstration was peaceful — until the police arrived and turned “the scene into a riot.”
“People are arrested for no reason. The 10 people who were arrested last night should never have been arrested,” said the 59-year-old retired construction worker.
Tammaro, the Army vet, agreed that the decision by the facility to turn Island Shores into immigrant housing “was done behind closed doors.”
At first, he said, residents were told the senior center would reopen under new management.
“We don’t have the chance to really make any attempt to stop them because there’s not enough time,” Tammaro said at a September news conference, as 15 asylum-seeking families moved into the building.
Still, Tammaro – who works for the US Army Signal Corps, the branch of the Army that manages information systems, and served stateside during the Korean War – said he tried to fight back.
“I said, ‘No, no, no, you’re not moving me,'” he recounted. “They answered, ‘Yes, yes, yes, we are.'”
“I was content where I was until they dumped me,” Tammaro explained. “But making the best of a bad situation, that’s what we do.”
He said he mostly felt bad for other former Island Shores residents, including seven other veterans.
“I’m not in combat,” Tammaro said. “But these boys who went and went to battle – and now they’ve all settled there with their lives and everything – and they’re all distracted, it’s not fair.”
But Annunziata said she remains angry at the way her father was treated.
“They worry about immigrants more than they worry about US citizens,” he said.
Home for the Homeless declined to comment Thursday.
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Source: thtrangdai.edu.vn/en/
