New York, Jan. 6. A group of Venezuelan immigrants and their families were invited to a Three Kings Day dinner on Thursday, where they also received gifts in accordance with this traditional Catholic holiday.
The evening was organized by the Hispanic Federation of New York in the neighborhood of Harlem, which has now become the Latino neighborhood par excellence in New York, and was attended by the Commissioner for Immigration of the Office of the Mayor of New York, Manuel Castro, as well as the vice president of the municipal legislative chamber, Diana Ayala.
The president of the Hispanic federation, Frankie Miranda, underlined that the evening was inspired by a celebration of the Three Kings which above all means welcoming newcomers, and has reason to exist in New York because it is “essentially a city of immigrants, welcoming all regardless of their origins”, reads a statement from the Federation.
Diana Ayala said for her part that immigrants continue to arrive in New York and “it is important that they are welcomed “with an appearance of tradition and culture, and with a sense of normality”, and in this sense the feast of the Three Kings it allows families to connect with each other while maintaining their own customs.
More than 31,000 immigrants, nearly all Venezuelans, have arrived in New York in the past five months, mostly sent by bus by Texas Gov. Greg Abbott, who is trying to distribute the cargo of arriving migrants at the US-Mexico border and moving it to what he calls “progressive cities,” i.e. governed by Democratic mayors. EFE extension
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