- Title: NYC's Roosevelt Hotel converts into migrant processing center
- Date: 18th May 2023
- Summary: NEW YORK, NEW YORK, UNITED STATES (MAY 18, 2023) (REUTERS) MANHATTAN MIDTOWN STREET / THE ROOSEVELT HOTEL HOTEL EXTERIOR AND WINDOWS SIDE SIGN READING, "THE ROOSEVELT HOTEL" MORE WINDOWDS EXTERIOR / STREET SIGN / PLAQUE FOR ROOSEVELT HOTEL CLOSE OF PLAQUE PEOPLE WALKING BY (SOUNDBITE) (Spanish and English) VENEZUELAN HUMAN RIGHTS LAWYER AND MIGRANT WORKING AS A MAID, BEJARANO BARAZARTE YAMILE COROMOTO, SAYING: "I am Venezuelan and I support my compatriots. I think this is an issue of human rights. We have to live without borders. We have to help each other. Things are very difficult in Venezuela [LOSES COMPOSURE AND TURNS AWAY] "Sorry I can't. It's very hard." [TURNS AWAY] "Sorry. New York has helped a lot of people. And there are good and bad people. I am one of the good ones. And the good ones we are the best, I always say. You've got to work, move forward however you can. And well I am grateful to this city." ROOSEVELT HOTEL SIGN NEW YORK REAL ESTATE BROKER, PAUL BERKMAN, WALKING BY (SOUNDBITE) (English) NEW YORK REAL ESTATE BROKER, PAUL BERKMAN, SAYING: "The Roosevelt Hotel in Midtown has been a longstanding stop for business travel. Amazing location. It has 900 rooms. We heard that it was being transformed to a migrant processing center. You know, it's just an interesting sort of adjustment for such a historic standard piece of New York real estate." VARIOUS OF DIAGONAL VIEW OF HOTEL EXTERIOR (SOUNDBITE) (English) NEW YORK REAL ESTATE BROKER, PAUL BERKMAN, SAYING: "We know the people need help. It's amazing that we're able to help them. Conversely, we've got American working poor families that are in desperate need of help. We've got an educational system that has been broken for decades. What about the American children? What about the vets that are being displaced? I just think that there has to be a solution. I'm not sure what it is, and I'm not sure if the Roosevelt's going to fill that box or not." EXTERIOR / ENTRANCE ENTRANCE SIGN ON ENTRANCE FOR THE ROOSEVELT HOTEL VARIOUS MORE OF HOTEL EXTERIOR
- Embargoed: 1st June 2023 21:34
- Keywords: Manhattan The Roosevelt Hotel Venezuelan migrant migrants
- Location: NEW YORK, NEW YORK, UNITED STATES
- City: NEW YORK, NEW YORK, UNITED STATES
- Country: US
- Topics: Asylum/Immigration/Refugees,North America,Government/Politics
- Reuters ID: LVA001356718052023RP1
- Aspect Ratio: 16:9
- Story Text:Having been closed for three years, an iconic New York hotel is being repurposed as a migrant processing center.
The Roosevelt Hotel, located in midtown Manhattan's business district, is just steps away from Grand Central Terminal.
At its peak, the hotel could around 900 residents.
It is now operating as an 'asylum seeker arrival center' as New York City struggles to keep up with the continued flow of migrants to the city.
The scramble for housing throughout the U.S. follows the end last week of COVID-19 border restrictions known as Title 42, which allowed U.S. authorities to expel migrants to Mexico without the chance to seek U.S. asylum. Tens of thousands of people hurried to cross the border illegally before U.S. President Joe Biden implemented a strict new asylum regulation to replace Title 42.
New York City Mayor Eric Adams has called on the Biden administration to provide more funding to cities.
Adams suspended some of New York's right-to-shelter rules last week, citing the strain of housing asylum seekers, and is considering using school gyms as shelters.
"We know the people need help. It's amazing that we're able to help them," Paul Berkman, a New York real estate broker said. "Conversely, we've got American working poor families that are in desperate need of help. We've got an educational system that has been broken for decades. What about the American children? What about the vets that are being displaced? I just think that there has to be a solution. I'm not sure what it is, and I'm not sure if the Roosevelt's going to fill that box or not."
(Production by: Hussein Al Waaile, Roselle Chen and Dan Fastenberg) - Copyright Holder: REUTERS
- Copyright Notice: (c) Copyright Thomson Reuters 2023. Open For Restrictions - http://about.reuters.com/fulllegal.asp
- Usage Terms/Restrictions: None