Gathered outside the shelter at the La Quinta hotel in Brooklyn, a dozen immigrants, fathers and mothers, complained about the mistreatment they receive from the administrators of the place they call home for now.
“They inspect every day. When they get into the rooms they throw your food away. If they get you food, they don’t feel sorry for it, they tell you, look, you’re going to discuss it in the kitchen or take it outside, no, but they put it in a black bag, throw it away and they don’t care anymore,” says Cindy Pedron, a Venezuelan immigrant.
In this shelter set up by the city to house immigrant families seeking asylum, there are at least 60 families. According to what those affected told us, apparently the mistreatment began before they were told that the hotel’s contract with the city had ended, and that they should collect their things and prepare to leave.
“They informed us that we had to pick up all the things because the city could take us out in 24 hours this week, the other week they could send us to the Bronx, to an island, we requested that they locate it for us right here in Brooklyn, because the children They study, they are going to finish, there is no answer,” says this other Venezuelan immigrant, Eylyn Velázquez.
The uncertainty of not knowing where they will be transferred or if they will even stay on the street does not allow them to sleep or live in peace.
“The school children who are not used to school, so changing them are the ones affected,” adds Velázquez.
Among the complaints, they say, that they have been drastically prohibited from bringing prepared food into the rooms, one of the families even told us that they had a small refrigerator and that the guards of the place took it out and threw it in the trash, claiming that the only place where You can eat in the general dining room of the hotel.
“We are human beings, we are not dogs to be treated that way. Come? The children arrive at the dining room and it turns out that when the children arrive at the dining room they also kick them out, they tell them things that they shouldn’t say. Oh, no, what we are experiencing is not fair and we need support,” says Antonio. Ascarate.
Bonnie Hernández’s little son underwent surgery and requires special care.
“Here are the papers from my son’s operation, which says that I have to be transferred to a shelter where I can cook his own food, since my son can’t swallow or anything. My son doesn’t breathe well all night, I have to do it in the early morning so he can breathe,” he explains.
We tried to get a reaction from the employees of this shelter, however, they told us that we cannot enter and that they cannot give us statements either.
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