New York, May 13 (EFE).- The mayor of New York, Eric Adams, reported this Saturday that the centenary and iconic Roosevelt Hotel, named after former President Theodore Roosevelt and which closed three years ago, will be reopened to accommodate families immigrants with children, who continue to arrive in the city.
The ninth Emergency Response and Humanitarian Aid Center will also be established in this luxury hotel on 45th Street in Manhattan, a few steps from Fifth Avenue and the famous Grand Central Station, and various services will also be offered, such as assistance medical, among others.
The mayor explained in a statement that the Roosevelt Hotel, which opened in 1924 and closed during the 2020 pandemic, will function as a centralized intake center for all asylum seekers and also provide them with a range of legal, medical and reconnection services with families and friends, as well as placing them in a shelter.
Asylum seekers, arriving by bus at the Ports Authority, or at the airport, will be directed to this new arrival center.
Immigrants who are already in shelters may also go to Roosevelt to receive a variety of services.
Starting this week, the 19-story, 1,000-room hotel, which adds to the 120 hotels that the city has already contracted to house immigrants after overcrowding in public shelters, will have 175 rooms available for children and their families, space which will be expanded to reach 850 rooms.
Adams also indicated that between 100 and 150 rooms will be reserved for immigrants who will continue their journey to other states.
The wave of immigrants to the city is expected to increase after the end of Title 42 put in place under the pandemic and which allowed the expulsion on the fly for health reasons of immigrants who crossed the border without documents.
New York has received more than 65,000 immigrants since last August and more than 30,000 are in shelters that are also given food and various services, which has created a humanitarian and economic crisis.
Two buses arrived on Friday and another three were received today, all sent by the Republican governor of Texas, Greg Abott, who since last year has been sending undocumented immigrants to sanctuary cities for immigrants.
“We continue to ask our federal and state partners for a true decompression strategy and hope to open and operate temporary shelters across the state and nation as the city has reached capacity,” the Democratic mayor reiterated.
Adams has also begun sending migrants to hotels outside of the city, sparking legal disputes over localities refusing to receive them.
The city has had to open more than 140 emergency shelters and eight humanitarian aid centers, to which the Roosevelt hotel will be added. Adams has asked for federal financial help, which has so far been unsuccessful.
The Roosevelt, owned by Pakistan International Airlines, features an Italian Renaissance-style façade as well as interiors that resemble historic American buildings.
