It takes a strange frame of mind to believe that demolishing a wooded encampment of homeless immigrant men and evicting them onto the streets during one of the coldest weeks of winter can be an act of prudence and compassion. But that is how the town of Huntington, in Suffolk County on Long Island, describes it.

It looks more like something else: an exercise in needless cruelty, in wishing a problem away.

This month, the town decided to clean up a large, privately owned lot where a few dozen Latino day laborers had found shelter. The lot, which is behind railroad tracks, is densely overgrown and well suited for an invisible encampment. It was an open secret for years, the laborers occasionally but only half-heartedly rousted.

This time was different. The owners were ordered to dismantle and clear out the debris, and a crew went in with chainsaws on Jan. 11.

Some men lost all they owned. Now they have no job, no bed, no place to stay all day, no way to get home. But it is not the town’s problem. It has no homeless shelter, and is not about to open one. Suffolk County has a shelter, but it doesn’t let in immigrants without papers. There is a hiring site with a trailer, but it closes at night.