2023-08-01 00:58:30
Hundreds of immigrants recently arrived in New York, the vast majority men, lined up on Monday for two streets in front of a hotel converted into a shelter, waiting to be placed in a shelter and hoping to quickly find a job to help to the families they left behind.
Immigrants from Venezuela, Colombia, Nicaragua, Ecuador, Senegal, Mauritania and Chad spent the night in front of the well-known Roosevelt Hotel following arriving in the city on Sunday, joining hundreds of others who over the weekend lined up in front of the building on 45th Street, steps from Fifth Avenue, in which the city also established a processing center.
Sitting on the sidewalk, where some protected themselves with umbrellas or cardboard from the sun that was already beginning to heat up, some ate “sandwiches or burritos” and drank water that had been distributed to them, others entertained themselves playing with their cell phones or chatting, and others, in Silent, they seemed lost in thought.
“We want to work” was the response that was heard over and over once more regardless of country of origin when answering why they came to New York while standing in line that stretched to 46th Street, following having obtained a number that guaranteed them their turn. .
Some were aware that the city limited stays in shelters for single adults, men or women, to 60 days to make room for families with children, and although others were unaware of that decision announced by Mayor Eric Adams on July 20 , strongly indicated “something is something”, or “it is time enough to find a job”.
The flow of immigrants -most of them seeking asylum from Latin America- has brought almost 100,000 people to New York since last year, of which more than 52,000 are under the care of the city, which in addition to shelter provides them with food, schooling and health services, among other help.
Faced with the collapse of public shelters last year, the city, with a law that obliges it to provide shelter to whoever requests it, had to rent hotels, both in the metropolitan area and in the north of the state, and resort to other spaces to use them as shelters, whose stay has now begun to limit.
According to a Venezuelan immigrant, “the presidents of South and Central America are to blame” for the emigration because “they have destroyed” their countries, he commented, while those around him nodded.
“Venezuela is in crisis,” he said, to which a Nicaraguan alluded to “terror in Nicaragua”: “Those who leave lose their nationality and you can’t even put the flag of your country in your house because it’s going once morest the Government”, reason for which, he alleged, his countrymen “flee”.
For his part, another Venezuelan who was listening attentively pointed out that they want to “take advantage of the opportunity that the mayor gives us to get ahead,” and added: “We are grateful to him.”
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Alex, a 36-year-old Venezuelan, arrived in New York on Saturday with his wife following spending two months with a friend in New Jersey, but “we no longer have a place to stay,” he said, and now they hope to find accommodation to work and send money to the four minor children they left in Venezuela under the care of a grandmother.
“We don’t have how to pay, we don’t have a job or where to stay,” said Alex, who added that he does not want to “stay, just work” for a while and then return to his country, and that he does not rule out continuing the trip to Atlanta, where he has more friends.
He recalled that in Venezuela he had a supermarket, but “President (Nicolás) Maduro killed us all there, he killed the companies,” which led him to emigrate four months ago. “There will be elections shortly and it is not known what will happen. That there is a dictatorship, ”he said sadly.
Mamadou, a 30-year-old Senegalese, did not speak English but was able to communicate to make it clear that he wants to work and indicated that he traveled with others from Senegal to Mexico and from there they crossed several countries to reach the United States.
Faced with the long queue on Friday, in the midst of an intense heat wave, the authorities sent several buses where some were able to spend the night with air conditioning. The Roosevelt Hotel, with a capacity for 1,000 people, no longer has space and immigrants are being sent to other shelters.
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