Migrants camping on a Manhattan sidewalk protesting plans to move them to a new facility in Brooklyn finally boarded a bus to their new accommodation on Wednesday night — despite left-wing agitators telling them it was cold and uninhabitable.
The situation has become particularly acute as temperatures in New York City are set to drop to 18F on Friday.
Amid tense scenes and after a three-day standoff, witnessed about 10 migrants board a bus to take them from their $450-a-night hotel to the new facility. counted around 25 to 35 remaining on the sidewalk in preparation to spend the night there as dusk fell.
New York City Mayor Eric Adams has transformed a cruise ship terminal in Brooklyn’s Red Hook neighborhood into accommodation with capacity for 1,000 people.
Activists held up umbrellas to try to block news cameras and reporters were verbally abused. A reporter filming for Al Arabiya TV from Dubai had his camera smashed by a migrant.
Migrants camp out in front of the Watson Hotel in Manhattan on Wednesday
Authorities provided pizza, water and fruit for the migrants as they tried to convince them to move into the new Brooklyn facility
The police warned the migrants but made no arrests.
City Hall has accused activists from groups like South Bronx Mutual Aid of fueling the standoff, with mayor’s press secretary Fabien Levy saying: “I don’t even understand the logic here.”
He added: “Rather than encouraging asylum seekers to sleep in warm, temperature-controlled indoor quarters at the Brooklyn Cruise Terminal, these groups are telling migrants to sleep in tents on the street.
“The lack of reasoning here is astounding.”
Adams, who alternates between asking the federal government for help dealing with the influx and boasting that his city is welcoming, toured the new site on Monday.
“Since last summer, New York City has opened five humanitarian emergency and relief centers and over 80 shelters to help the over 43,000 asylum seekers who have arrived,” his office tweeted.
“We have offered them shelter, food, legal assistance and other resources while we await national assistance.”
But many of the migrants were reluctant to move and after being evicted from their rooms at The Watson Hotel on Sunday, they camped out on the pavement.
The asylum seeker crisis is a national problem that requires a national solution. New York City is proud to have welcomed tens of thousands of asylum seekers and provided them with shelter, food and resources. But we can’t do it alone. pic.twitter.com/AIXfDzHwd4
— Mayor Eric Adams (@NYCMayor) January 31, 2023
Activists held up umbrellas to block news teams amid tense scenes outside the hotel on Wednesday
Some of the migrants berated the news media and a reporter’s camera was hit and damaged by a migrant
Migrants camp outside with food provided by city authorities
Migrants were given plates of spaghetti heated in a microwave on the sidewalk
Coffee and a microwave were provided for the migrants who were camping outside on the sidewalk
The migrants were provided with hot waffles, spaghetti and omelettes in a bun
Buses arrive in front of the Watson Hotel to transport migrants to Brooklyn
watched 10 migrants board the bus. The mayor’s office said a dozen have left
Rev. Erick Salgado, a south Brooklyn evangelical pastor who serves as an assistant commissioner in the mayor’s office for immigrant affairs, tried on Wednesday to persuade migrants to leave their temporary homes on the sidewalk, assuring them that the new location is better.
Addressing them in Spanish, he urged the crowd to board the waiting buses.
“We want to transfer most of the asylum seekers to the HERRC in Brooklyn,” he said, referring to the Humanitarian Emergency Response and Relief Center (HERRC).
“We all know it’s going to be very cold and windy and we want to make sure they have the resources they need this winter.
“Yesterday we drove to the Brooklyn facility with a lot of them.
“The majority of them want to go there and stay there in Brooklyn — they have transportation. we have buses And many of the local churches that I have set up to help them there too.’
As a bus arrived, heard a migrant yell, “If you want to go, go.
“If you want to stay, stay. We’re not going to sleep on those shitty beds.”
On Wednesday night, the city’s Immigration Service tweeted: “Twelve other #AsylumSeekers, including several who joined the Commissioner on tour yesterday, have agreed to leave camp in front of the #WatsonHotel and move to Brooklyn Cruise Terminal HERRC.
“Thanks to everyone who is helping to dispel misinformation.”