New York City's migrant woes went from bad to worse Monday, when more than 100 migrants that had been staying at a Midtown hotel refused to relocate to a shelter set up by Mayor Eric Adams and instead set up an encampment on the street.
The encampment outside The Watson Hotel sprang up apparently overnight, the Daily Mail reports, and is the latest development in the city's continuing struggle to house the overwhelming influx of asylum seekers that have traveled to the five boroughs in the past few months.
Erika Quintero, who lives across the street from the mass of tents on West 57th Street, told the Mail the migrants have already been "disruptive" in the short time that they have been there.
"Last night there was so much noise," Quintero, who lives with her 9-year-old son, said.
Speaking to the Mail a short distance from the migrant camp, Quintero said she and her son had lived there for years and had previously dealt with homeless people who had been put up in the hotel by Adams.
The single mom said her husband died six months ago and the group of migrant men grew even more rowdy by morning after they received gifts of tents and tables of food from locals.
"Loud music, people screaming," she said. "My son was trying to take a class on zoom. It's very frightening. Look at me — I am carrying pepper spray. Why is the city doing this to us?"
Many of the Big Apple's newly arrived asylum seekers have been housed at The Watson Hotel since November after a planned tent city in the Bronx and a proposed housing facility on Randall's Island never materialized.
Adams set a deadline of Monday for the single male migrants to vacate the hotel after he announced last week a shelter at the Brooklyn Cruise Terminal would house at least 1,000 of those seeking asylum.
According to the Mail, several migrants set up camp outside the hotel beginning Sunday night to protest the mayor's announcement, with many citing privacy concerns and less than optimal conditions at the temporary shelter as reasons why they would not relocate.
Migrants were reportedly removed from their rooms at the hotel Monday, with those returning to their rooms telling reporters they were not being allowed back in to get their belongings.
Cardboard signs scrawled with Spanish were strewn across the encampment, with one sign saying, "Necesitamos vivienda para dormir," or, "We need housing to sleep," and another reading, "Necesitamos ayudo por favor," which translates to "We need help please."
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