Images of dozens of people outside the Roosevelt Hotel have caused concern in the community, not least among elected officials.
The mayor’s office says that 2,300 new immigrants arrived in the city last week alone and that so far 1,300 immigrants have been helped to present their asylum application.
The mayor visited the Roosevelt Hotel on Wednesday night, which functions as a shelter and information center for many of the immigrants arriving in the city, and spoke with some of them.
In the vicinity of the hotel we spoke with Jason Orlando Gómez, who recently arrived from Venezuela, and we asked him how the authorities have treated him.
Gómez.
“Well, thank God, you know that people don’t want you, but here we are, thank God,” Gomez said.
And he says that he at least comes with the best intentions of having a better life.
“There are many people who come to steal and that’s why some of us just come to work and nothing more, that’s what I’m going to do,” added Gómez.
The possibility of housing migrants in camps on Randall’s Island and Central Park has been mentioned, but authorities say those are only options on the table.
It was also announced that the Asylum Claims Help Center and a consortium of city colleges, led by New York University (NYU), will provide assistance in completing asylum applications with the help of students this fall.
Raul Egas was at the end of the line, he is Ecuadorian and his wife and children are in another shelter, but he slept on the street.
Egas.
I’ve just arrived because they sent me here, some friends gave me the address but I really don’t know what the issue would be like here, if they helped me it would be very good,” said Egas.
Public defender Jumaane Williams also appeared at the Roosevelt Hotel and called on the White House to take action, even saying that he “hoped the president would come and take a tour to see what’s going on.”
Kevin Morales is aware that the shelters are full and told us that some immigrants have been in them for a long time.
“I’m looking to see if they give us support with a ‘shelter’ or some place where we can stay because I don’t have family here or someone to receive me,” Morales said.
And it is that there are already more than 56,000 immigrants who are under the care of the city and they have been distributed in 194 different places and the numbers continue to increase.
According to the authorities, the immediate problem is where to house the new immigrants.
2023-08-03 19:05:00
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