A Bolivian migrant team has held accountable fellow asylum seekers who refused to stay in a newly built $20.8 million tented shelter because there were no hotel rooms left in New York City.
Eric Adams’ administration bussed dozens of migrants to the makeshift tent facility at the Floyd Bennett Center in Brooklyn on Sunday, in the city’s latest effort to keep up with the surge of asylum seekers, which has reached more than 139,000 since last spring.
But many of the families immediately got back on the bus after seeing the facility, and some were at the Roosevelt Hotel on Monday asking to be sent to other housing.
The 21-year-old woman from Bolivia, who has been staying at the Randall’s Island tent shelter for a month, said conditions in the tent facilities were not ideal but she did not understand the migrants’ complaints.
“They say they want a room, but no one has asked for them to come here,” she told on Monday.
Images shared with show a bus full of migrants being sent to the makeshift tent facility at the Floyd Bennett Center in Brooklyn on Sunday
The Roosevelt Hotel has become the city’s new Ellis Island, as hundreds of migrants pass through it every day for various reasons, mostly To for housing
Several families lacking coats or winter clothing were put on a bus from the Roosevelt Hotel to another shelter Monday
Previously, only single adults were accommodated in tent accommodation; hotel rooms were reserved for families. On Sunday, the city sent families to a tent-like emergency shelter for the first time.
spoke to a Venezuelan family who were taken to the Floyd Bennett Center on Sunday but refused to stay there, saying the facility was not suitable for children.
“It was like a migrant detention center, the beds were cots and there was just no room for children, so we came right back,” the Venezuelan mother, who did not want to be named, told outside the Roosevelt Hotel .
“We didn’t even know where we were going… the workers here who were so friendly didn’t even know where we were going, some even apologized to us today,” she added.
The family returned to the Roosevelt Hotel and was relocated to the Kings Hotel in Brooklyn, one of dozens of hotels converted into migrant housing.
However, a spokesperson for the mayor’s office told that these migrant families were allowed to return to their previous accommodations because they were already housed there and their children had started school.
Going forward, those who do not wish to remain in their assigned housing will be asked to sign a waiver stating that they agree to no longer be in the custody of New York City, which is a right to has accommodation.
The mayor’s office said: “With more than 65,600 migrants currently still in our care and thousands more arriving each week, we have used every possible corner of New York City and simply do not have good options for housing migrants.”
spoke to a Venezuelan family who were taken to the Floyd Bennett Center (pictured) on Sunday but refused to stay there, saying the facility was not suitable for children
Floyd Bennett Field in Brooklyn, part of a national park in southeast New York, is expected to hold 2,000 people
“For this reason, we continue to demand meaningful assistance and a decompression strategy from our state and federal partners.” No municipality should be left virtually alone in dealing with a national crisis. “It’s not fair to asylum seekers and it’s not fair to long-time New Yorkers.”
Several families lacking coats or winter clothing were put on a bus from the Roosevelt Hotel to another shelter Monday. Workers at the site refused to say where the migrants were going.
The Roosevelt Hotel has become the city’s new Ellis Island, as hundreds of migrants pass through it every day for various reasons, mostly To for housing.
On Monday, many people were on site at Roosevelt to extend their shelter stays after the city imposed a 30-day limit for individuals and a 60-day limit for families.
The Democratic office said it will begin sending 60-day notices to migrant families living in shelters. However, they could reapply for accommodation if they were unable to find a new place to live.
However, has learned that migrant families only received the notices two weeks ago.
“It’s not fair that those who have spent a year here are not kicked out.” It should be those who have been here longer who are sent to [the new shelter]said the Venezuelan mother.
More than 120,000 migrants have arrived in the city in the last 18 months, with over 60,000 of them still living in the city’s shelters
In August, migrants from Africa, Mexico and Venezuela line up in front of the Roosevelt Hotel in Manhattan. The hotel was called “Ellis Island” because this is where the migrants are processed
spoke to a Venezuelan migrant who had asked to come only from Jose Manuel, who said he had not received any notice of a limited stay. He and his family have been at the hotel for nine months.
has reached out to the mayor’s office for comment on this story.
Many of the Venezuelans at the Roosevelt Hotel said they initially emigrated to other South American countries such as Chile and Peru, but received no help from governments there.
In search of better economic opportunities, they decided to cross the dangerous Darien Gap, which separates South and Central America, to reach the U.S.-Mexico border.
Like the Bolivian migrant, Jose Manuel said some migrants were “ungrateful” and claimed that the migrants at the Roosevelt Hotel were divided into those who want to work and those who do not want to work.
Jose Manuel said he supported deporting “any migrant who violates the law.”
Floyd Bennett Field in Brooklyn, part of a national park in southeast New York, is expected to hold 2,000 people.
It’s the mayor’s latest attempt to ease the strain on the city’s housing system and finances as it grapples with more than 139,000 international migrants who have come to New York, many without shelter or the ability to work legally. According to his office, more than 60,000 migrants are currently living in city shelters.
Adams estimates the city will spend $12 billion over the next three years to manage the influx by building large emergency shelters, renting out hotels and providing various government services for migrants.