Hundreds of migrants sleep outside Manhattan’s Roosevelt Hotel for second day as NYC Mayor Eric Adams says crisis ‘not over’
Hundreds of migrants sleep outside Manhattan’s Roosevelt Hotel for the second day in a row — as NYC Mayor Eric Adams said the crisis is “not over.”
Large groups of asylum seekers, from a number of South American and African countries, lined the streets, sleeping on cardboard at night as the migrant hotel was full.
“I want a better life,” one migrant told DailyMail.com.
The number of migrants arriving in the city continues to rise as buses from southern states arrive in the city – a result of policies that have led thousands of asylum seekers to cross the US-Mexico border.
New York City is currently home to more than 56,000 migrants in about 200 makeshift locations — while thousands more are in the city’s reception system. But buses continue to arrive weekly, transporting people from the border.
The Roosevelt Hotel, which closed three years ago, is one of many hotels that have been turned into emergency centers as the city grapples with an influx of migrants.
Large groups of asylum seekers, from a number of South American and African provinces, line the streets and sleep on cardboard at night as the migrant hotel is full
The desperate people who tried to get into the hotel early Tuesday morning spoke a number of languages, including Spanish, French and Arabic
New York City is currently home to more than 56,000 migrants in about 200 makeshift locations — while thousands more are in the city’s reception system. But buses continue to arrive fresh from the border week after week
Many people on the street only have the clothes on their backs and the cardboard they sleep on
New York is bound by a decades-old decree of consent in a class action lawsuit to provide shelter for the homeless.
As a result, the Roosevelt Hotel and other hotels that have become refugee hubs are within walking distance of Times Square, the World Trade Center memorial, and the Empire State Building.
Over the weekend, the migrants were given little red tickets with numbers on them — and occasionally hotel workers would come out to call numbers to let people into the air-conditioned lobby.
Others, desperately clamoring closer to get in, had to wait outside in the New York City heat.
The desperate people who tried to get into the hotel early Tuesday morning spoke a number of languages, including Spanish, French and Arabic.
Mahmouth, a migrant from Diungame, Senegal, has been waiting on the streets of New York City for five days, desperate for a place to rest his head.
He told DailyMail.com, “We are here day and night. I don’t know what’s going to happen now.’
Sahi Khalil, from Mauritania, arrived in New York two months ago before being transferred to Ohio and back to the Big Apple. He lived at the Magma Hotel in Queens before being kicked out.
He told DailyMail.com from the line on Tuesday, “They moved all of us — they said they wanted to move a family.”
Khalil was then placed in one of the city’s air raid shelters, but has attempted to enter the Roosevelt Hotel.
He added: ‘My friends said they’ve been here for three days. They slept on the street here for three days. I want a better life. I wish them a better life. We are suffering in our country.’
When asked why he wants to migrate to the US, he said the country is a “place of freedom and dignity.”
Groups of migrants, from a number of African provinces, are forced to sleep on the streets during Manhattan’s heat wave
The migrants were given little red tickets with numbers on them — and occasionally hotel workers would come out to call numbers to let people into the air-conditioned lobby
The municipality says that more than 93,000 asylum seekers passed the intake system last spring
Some migrants have come on buses from Texas and the southern border. Others come from further afield
Eric Adams said in a statement Monday: “Children and families are still given priority and find a bed every night.
“While at least last night we offered all adults a temporary place to wait outside the sidewalks, some may have chosen to sleep outside.
“And, in fairness, New Yorkers may continue to see that more and more as hundreds of asylum seekers continue to arrive every day.”
Many have now spent two nights sleeping on the streets of New York after being dropped off by buses from the southern border in Texas. Unless they are in the hotel, many have been denied access to use the indoor toilet.
A migrant named Mary who traveled from Venezuela told the story The city that she burst into tears after hotel employees refused her to use the toilet at 2am. She wandered the streets looking for another place to go to the toilet.
A group of men, from Chad in Africa, huddled around a gutter to wash their feet before lining up to pray on Saturday while waiting a long time to get in.
The long line of migrants comes from many different countries, including Venezuela, Ecuador, Sudan, Mauritania and Senegal.
Many have now spent two nights sleeping on the streets of New York after being dropped off by buses from the southern border in Texas. Unless they are in the hotel, many have been denied access to use the indoor toilet
After the Midtown scenes, the Legal Aid Society and the Coalition for the Homeless criticized the city for allowing the migrants to sleep on the streets.
They said in a statement: “There is no question that the city has a legal obligation to find suitable placement in a timely manner for anyone in need of shelter.
“Denying newcomers placement and forcing people to languish on local streets is cruel and violates a range of court orders and local laws.”
The organization threatened to sue if something is not done to help the people on the street.
The municipality says that more than 93,000 asylum seekers passed the intake system last spring.
Some of the thousands of migrants arriving in NYC have been brought in by buses from Florida and Texas as the states’ conservative governments believe progressive cities should share the burden.
Texas Governor Greg Abbott has sent about 9,700 asylum seekers to New York City, according to Politico.
Florida Governor Ron DeSantis has flown about 85 migrants to Massachusetts and California.
A worker walks past the Roosevelt Hotel on Tuesday morning, where migrants in the suburbs wait to be called in to get a room
Hundreds of migrants line up early for placement at the Roosevelt Hotel intake center on August 1, 2023
Migrants sleep outside the Roosevelt Hotel
New York Mayor Eric Adams responded by sending migrants to red states — some were even sent to South America and China.
The Democrat spent about $50,000 of the city’s money to send 114 migrant households elsewhere — with 28 families sent to Florida with 14 to Texas and a few to Colombia and a family to China after being allowed to choose their destination.
Adams, who called the immigration crisis a “disaster,” has opened 174 emergency shelters and shelters.
The city plans to spend more than $4.3 billion to slow down the crisis.