As hundreds of Caribbean and other asylum seekers continue to come in New York City on a daily basis, Mayor Eric Adams has opened the city’s first asylum seeker arrival center.
Adams also revealed the location of the city’s ninth Humanitarian Emergency Response and Relief Centre.
Many of the asylum seekers are from Cuba, Haiti, and Venezuela, according to officials, and Adams said the Roosevelt Hotel, which has been closed for nearly three years, will host the arrival center and fulfill a key commitment to provide a centralized intake center for all arriving asylum seekers as well as access to a range of legal, medical, and re-connection services.
The Roosevelt Hotel will add 175 rooms for children and families until it reaches 850 rooms. An additional 100 to 150 rooms will be reserved for asylum seekers in transit.
With the number of asylum seekers projected to increase dramatically now that Title 42 has been abolished, Adams has reiterated demands to the state and federal governments for extra assistance as the city handles this problem.
“With the opening of yet another humanitarian relief center, we continue to ask our federal and state partners for a true decompression strategy, and we hope to open and operate temporary shelters across the state and nation as New York City reaches capacity.”
“In addition to this one, New York City has now cared for over 65,000 asylum seekers, opening over 140 emergency shelters and eight large-scale humanitarian relief centers to manage this national crisis.”
“While this new arrival center and humanitarian relief center will create hundreds of good-paying union jobs and provide the infrastructure to help asylum seekers reach their final destination, we will be unable to continue treating new arrivals and those already here with the dignity and care that they deserve without federal or state assistance,” he added.
With the expiration of Title 42, Deputy Mayor for Health and Human Services Anne Williams-Isom stated, “we know that we may face an even larger number of individuals and families seeking asylum in New York City or passing through to their final destination.”
“While we are responding to the immediate need, now is the time to call on the state and federal governments to do more to support the city’s efforts and share the burden of this humanitarian crisis.”
The New York Immigration Coalition (NYIC) urged Adams and other stakeholders to “start coordinating and planning to ensure the health and well-being of asylum seekers sent to the region” following the issuance of a temporary restraining order by a judge prohibiting New York City from sending additional asylum seekers to the county.
There are now 186 single adult men permitted to stay at two hotels in Orange County.
According to NYIC Executive Director Murad Awawdeh, every state and municipality has “the capacity to welcome people fleeing danger, if done properly.”
“NYC Mayor Eric Adams and Orange County Executive Steve Neuhaus need to start coordinating and planning to ensure the health and well-being of the asylum seekers sent to the region,” he said.