MIDTOWN EAST, Manhattan (WABC) — Dozens of asylum seekers are sleeping outside the Roosevelt Hotel in Manhattan – many of them spending Saturday in the heat and the rain.
The hotel says it is at full capacity, and the Mayor’s Office is working to find people a place to stay.
The line has dwindled throughout the night, but it still stretched down the block Saturday evening with dozens of asylum waiting to get into the city’s processing center – a process some of them can only describe one way – hard.
One child fell asleep on his mother’s shoulder Saturday evening as they waited to get into the city’s intake center at the Roosevelt Hotel. The line wrapped around Vanderbilt Avenue in the heart of Midtown.
“It’s just a little chaotic. I come into work today and you can’t move. They’re in front of the restaurant, they’re sitting down. It’s not their fault, but it’s a little crazy,” said Zelka Kalaj, a worker at a nearby pizzeria.
In the thick of sweltering heat, families boarded a bus provided by the city for some relief – one family from Ecuador still had some burning questions.
“I don’t know where they will give us shelter,” they said.
The Mayor’s Office released a statement saying,
“Children and families continue to be prioritized and are found a bed every night. While we at least offered all adults a temporary place to wait off the sidewalks last night, some may have chosen to sleep outside and, in all honesty, New Yorkers may continue to see that more and more as hundreds of asylum seekers continue to arrive each day.”
Many of the asylum seekers are crying out for the bare necessities, such as food. Some are just happy to have made it to the United States, but for others, this is not what they expected – nor is it humane.
“We have friends inside, said ‘no problem, no people,’ but many people,” said Abdurakhmon Gaziev from Russia.
The Mayor’s Office says more than 93,000 asylum seekers have come through the city’s intake system since last spring.
The city is encouraging migrants to take placements outside New York City as soon as they are available. Officials repeat a call for desperate help from state and Federal partners.
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