MANHATTAN, NEW YORK CITY: A luxury hotel in in Manhattan is set to become home to migrants who have been bused in from Texas and are seeking asylum. The Row is located near Times Square and will soon begin housing 600 migrant families, reported New York Post. Texas Governor Greg Abbott has been sending numerous migrants to Row NYC, at 700 Eighth Avenue, is a 28-story, 1,300-room building located about three blocks north of the Port Authority Bus Terminal. The hotel has previously housed homeless people during the height of the coronavus pandemic.
The hotel is reportedly working with NYC Mayor Eric Adams to convert part of the hotel into an intake center. Rooms in the hotel can cost more than $400-a-night. A hotel security guard told the Daily Mail that no migrants are currently staying in the hotel, but it is expecting a group of migrants from the Department of Homeland Security within the month. He added that to his knowledge, the rooms that will be given to the migrants will be standard rooms all on the same floor.
A worker at the hotel told New York Post in a separate interview, “In a month or two, we’re about to open up for the city Department of Homeless Services, for homeless. They’re working on an agreement, a contract. It’ll be here at this hotel, but they’ll keep the DHS shelter on a certain floor. But that hasn’t started yet, they said a month or two.” However, City Hall has yet to make an official announcement regarding how much the hotel plan will cost, or which department will be heading the operation.
Tripadvisor says of the hotel, “The Row NYC hotel has pioneered a new era of individuality among Times Square hotels by meeting NYC’s signature urban grit with grandeur. Row NYC transforms your stay into a completely contemporary experience – with a front row view to Times Square that’s truly incomparable. Outside the hotel, guests have access to anything and everything Times Square has to offer – 24/7. Inside, the Row NYC is a medley of inspired New York City amenities.”
The Row and and the city struck a deal with each other after the Department of Homeless Services (DHS) issued a plea for proposals last week. The attempt is to deal with the surge of asylum-seekers traveling to the Big Apple. In the past two weeks, over 300 of them have arrived.
At an unrelated press conference recently, Mayor Adams said, “We are going to provide these families with the dignity that the Texas Governor failed to do that is who we are as New Yorkers that is who we are as an administration.” Greg Abbott started to bus undocumented migrants to New York City to protest against President Joe Biden ending a pandemic program that makes it eaiser for border agents to thwart illegal border crossings.
* Article from: meaww.com