After being forcibly removed from the Watson Hotel in Manhattan in February, now hundreds of single men seeking asylum will have to move again as the shelter at the Brooklyn cruise terminal returns to regular seasonal operations.
The announcement was made by Mayor Eric Adams, announcing that he is designating two new shelters for immigrants in a commercial building also in Brooklyn and in Times Square, where the emblematic McDonald’s on 42nd Street used to be.
“There are many people who really need a refuge. Because many people who have entered and have not been able to get a job, have not been able to obtain a work permit,” said Claudio Pérez, a Nicaraguan immigrant.
The capacity of both places would be for about 1,200 men in overcrowded conditions like the current one.
One of the first to criticize him was Queens Councilor Robert Holden, who expressed his outrage over Adams’ latest solution to the immigration crisis, noting:
“Now we are going to house them in retail spaces, commercial spaces. Where does it end up and when does the taxpayer get a break here?” Holden said. “This is a problem that the Biden administration created and the government should foot the bill and have a plan to feed and house them.”
The mayor says he wants the shelters to be “permanent” and plans to process the paperwork they require, as Immigration and Customs Enforcement in New York is fully booked until 2032. The nearly 10-year delay is the longest in any ICE office in the United States.
“Hopefully this site will be more permanent for immigrants, so they can do everything they need to do to move forward,” said Power Malú, from Activist Athlete Artists.
More than 51,000 asylum seekers have arrived in New York since last spring. Of those, the city says it serves 31,000.
“We are supporting them. We have the resources. We are here, the non-profit organizations always present,” added Malú.
By the middle of next year, they calculate that they would have spent 4.2 billion dollars in the crisis, generated, think both immigrants and activists, by the lack of a work permit.
Both shelters are scheduled to open at the end of March, according to the mayor’s office.
