New York City Leases Building to Shelter More than 300 Asylum-Seeking Immigrants Amid Neighborhood Concerns

A Venezuelan father who has been in New York City for a month with his 7-year-old daughter Jancarla, his wife and another small child, crossed the Darien jungle for months to reach the United States.

And like the more than 70,000 immigrants who have arrived in the city, they were placed in a temporary shelter.

“We are all human beings, well, do you understand me? And as you say, we all deserve an opportunity, both here and elsewhere because we are human beings, it would be bad for a needy person to turn their backs on them,” said the father.

A building owned by the American Academy of Music has leased its facilities to the city so that it can receive some 300 immigrants, who continue to arrive in New York seeking asylum.

The problem is that 10 people with disabilities live permanently in the property, who apparently were not notified that they will share their home with hundreds of immigrants.

A resident of the area, who did not want to give his name, said he was concerned.

“What I would like to know is what is going to happen to the people who live for years in the building, are they going to be evicted, being American citizens?” asked the neighbor.

In the same way, there are complaints from the residents of this sector for not having informed them of this decision by the mayor to open two new shelters, one on 70th Street and the other also located on the Upper West Side, on 85th Street.

“It seems like a hidden operation, because no one in the neighborhood knew about it, they should have let us know, now buses full of immigrants will come to our neighborhood, I don’t think it’s right,” said Joe, another neighbor.

Joe. Neighbor.

The two new immigrant assistance and response centers will have the capacity to accommodate more than 800 people, including single women and families.

In total, 516 rooms have been equipped for the purpose.

“The truth is that we want them to help us with a job, to give us work permits, so that we don’t have to receive anything from the state, or anything like that, but we work on our own account and make the payments that one has to do, about the room and all that”, said

The exact day that the immigrants will be transferred to these facilities is unknown, although the authorities have indicated that it will be soon.