The line may be gone, but migrants in NYC are still in crisis
According to the mayor’s office, over 95,000 asylum seekers have come to New York City since the spring of 2022.
On Thursday, the area outside the Roosevelt Hotel in New York City seemed like any other summer day.
New Yorkers rushed down 45th Street as police officers patrolled. It was a little windy and less humid than the previous week’s 90-degree temperatures.
The relative calm was in stark contrast to the days before when more than 100 migrants slept on the sidewalk outside the Roosevelt, one of the city’s processing centers for asylum seekers that also houses new arrivals. The hotel and other city shelters were full, and for a time people had nowhere to go.
Those lines are gone, but the crisis is not, as New York City Mayor Eric Adams made clear.
“It’s not going to get any better,” Adams said at a press conference this week. “From this moment on it’s downhill. There is no more room.”Â
According to the mayor’s office, over 95,000 asylum seekers have come to New York City since the spring of 2022 from all over the world, including Mexico, Venezuela, Colombia and Russia.
Adams and other city officials continue to press the federal government for expedited work visas. They’ve also called for the federal government to treat the migrant crisis like a national emergency, ensuring that the proper resources are sent to struggling cities.
By Thursday, the city had moved the migrants to a church on Long Island. No more barricades were visible and the rows of migrants were gone.
Not everyone was lucky enough to find shelter.
Erasmo Garza took the long journey from Mexico to New York on a bus a couple of weeks ago.
When migrants were moved to the Long Island church, Garza somehow got lost in the shuffle. He’s still waiting for a room in the hotel.
Despite the uncertainty, he’s happy to be in America and hopes he’ll find work — he’s a carpenter — after he finds a place to sleep.
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