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New Yorkers are outraged after asylum seekers refused to move from a Manhattan hotel to a housing facility in Brooklyn.
The NYPD was called to The Watson Hotel on Monday to get the migrants moving on the next step of the asylum process, but many refused to go as they set up tents outside the Hell’s Kitchen residence.
A nurse who lives down the block from the hotel told DailyMail.com that the city needed to kick out the migrants, some of whom he said were smoking cigarettes and marijuana while lying in blankets and sleeping bags on the street.
‘I am paying $2,000 a month to witness this,’ said the man, who identified himself as Steven. ‘I have kids in school. This is ridiculous.’
Migrants have remained camping outside The Watson Hotel in Hell’s Kitchen, refusing to relocate to a NYC housing shelter in Brooklyn
Local residents expressed outrage at the sight and slammed the city and federal government for failing to curb the number of asylum seekers reaching the Big Apple
The city is pushing the migrants to board buses bound for Brooklyn (above), but the migrants and advocates say the facility is ill-equipped to accommodate them
More than 43,000 asylum seekers have flooded the Big Apple since last spring, leading the city to set up emergency shelters at hotels while constructing mass housing for the migrants.
While many migrants have been moved outside the hotels, many at The Watson have refused to take up the city’s offer to ship them to the Red Hook housing facility in Brooklyn, causing headaches for longtime residents in Hell’s Kitchen.
Allan Robert, who lives in an apartment with his wife next to the Watson, slammed the city for moving the migrants to the hotel in the first place, and said the crowded streets have become safety concerns for residents.
‘No information was given to the neighborhood prior to this happening,’ Robert said. ‘They were just dropped here.
‘I don’t mind helping migrants but I do mind helping migrants that are undocumented – which we are paying for per night, per room. Really, how much is it?’
Adams has also been bullish on asking for federal help, which included a rally outside City Hall Sunday.
Washington has approved $800million in spending to aid the crisis but it will go to various cities across the country.
Even if it were all going to New York, the city will still spend more money on its own to help the migrants, according to ABC7.
Both Robert and Steven condemned New York City Mayor Eric Adams for failing to properly relocate the migrants, with Steven laying additional blame on President Joe Biden’s border failures.
‘They are taking the migrants out to Brooklyn to put a whole new set of people here,’ he said. ‘Our tax dollars are paying for this.
‘They are making a mockery of what we worked so hard for decades to fix. It’s ridiculous. It’s a puppet show.’
Residents said they’re frustrated by the sight of migrants smoking cigarettes and marijuana on the streets outside The Watson Hotel
Although police moved in on Monday to remove tents, many are still their in sleeping bags
Pictured: Paramedics tending to a migrant who needed help on Tuesday. Some residents feared for the migrants camping out in the streets in the winter
A 61-year-old woman who has lived near the hotel since 1979 described the scene as ‘chaos.’
‘This should not be happening,’ she said. ‘The rules don’t apply and they should – that is what keeps things in order.’
She also chastised the city for diverting resources and taxpayer money to assist undocumented migrants despite her own son, who has a disability, needing help to pay for his feeding tube.
‘The migrants are taking away from us. It’s a pie and now you are giving outsiders what my son deserves as a disabled person,’ she added. ‘That is not acceptable. ‘
Jay Boni, an employee at the nearby Gotham City Barber Shop, said he was sympathetic to the outraged residents, but also feared for the health and well being of the migrants camping outside the hotel in the winter.
‘I think it’s better for them to go to the Brooklyn facility,’ he said. ‘I don’t like to see people in the streets.’
He added: ‘I understand some people are upset and don’t want the migrants outside their front door. The residents pay crazy money for rent and want it to be peaceful and to feel safe.’
Pictured: A surge of migrants setting up camp outside The Watson Hotel
Migrants are opting to stay at The Watson as earlier reports indicated they enjoyed free food and other amenities throughout the city’s emergency hotel shelters
Pictured: A sign set up by the hotel that reads: No to the discrimination of immigrants
But migrants and advocates have slammed the city for trying to move residents to the Brooklyn facility, which they claimed cannot properly accommodate the asylum seekers.
Migrant Oscar Veliz told ABC 7 that the 1,000-bed facility is ill-equipped, and that food isn’t always readily available.
‘We do not want to go to Brooklyn Terminal, I was there yesterday, there was no heat; it’s cold,’ said migrant Oscar Veliz.
One of the migrants who was shuttled off to the Red Hook facility told DailyMail.com that those being sent off are leaving their belongings behind at The Watson Hotel because they plan on returning.
Adams’ office denied the allegations that their facilities could not properly meet the needs of the migrants, reiterating that it will ‘provide asylum seekers with shelter, food, health care, education, and a host of other services.’
The city has declared a state of emergency over the surge of migrants arriving everyday
Pictured: Food and coffee being served to the migrants outside the hotel
Some migrants have said they have boarded the buses to the Brooklyn facilities, but have plans to immediately come back to The Watson afterwards
City Hall spokesman Fabien Levy said in a statement: ‘The facilities at Brooklyn Cruise Terminal will provide the same services as every other humanitarian relief center in the city.’
Buses of migrants have been arriving in NYC since fall when Republican governors, primarily Texas Gov. Greg Abbott and Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, began sending asylum seekers from the border to largely Democratic-leaning cities.
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