NYC councilwoman Vickie Paladino blasts city, state officials for 'unsustainable' migrant crisis on streets
NYC Councilwoman Vickie Paladino calls for a state of emergency to address the massive number of migrants camping on city streets.
New York City Council members are sounding the alarm on the Big Apple's migrant crisis, calling it "absolutely out of control" and "unsustainable" as asylum seekers line the streets outside the Roosevelt Hotel.
Councilwoman Vickie Paladino warned the surge of illegal immigrants is impacting New Yorkers' quality of life as it annihilates the "heartbeat" of the nation during "Fox & Friends First."
"It's downgrading everything," Paladino told Carley Shimkus Thursday. "I'm born and raised New Yorker. This is all New York. We are in the heart of all New York, and when you see what they're doing to old New York, what New York should be, the heartbeat of this country, and they're killing it. They're killing the heartbeat of this country."
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The Roosevelt Hotel is an arrival center for all migrants, where they can get food, vaccinations, and meet with caseworkers, city officials said, but it is now at max capacity which is prompting many to seek shelter outside the building.
It is also a humanitarian relief center that only houses children and families, who go to the front of the line upon arrival. Those waiting outside are adult asylum seekers, who do not get placement at the Roosevelt.
Migrants await registration outside of the Roosevelt Hotel in midtown Manhattan on Tuesday, August 1, 2023. The asylum seekers are forced to wait on the streets, since the hotel is currently at capacity. (Julia Bonavita/Fox News Digital )
Fox News Digital captured images from outside the building, showing many migrants sleeping on the sidewalk and some were even wrapped around the corner of the building.
"The overcrowding is absolutely, absolutely out of control," Paladino said.
Democratic New York City Councilman Robert Holden also slammed local and federal officials for the ongoing surge amid border security concerns, calling it "absurd."
"We have 100,000 people in New York City that walked across unvetted. How is that a border? How is that secure? Nobody can figure it out," he said during "The Ingraham Angle" Wednesday. "This is absurd."
"We have our eyes here looking at this outside... the hotel Roosevelt," he continued. "Look at that. Does that make any sense whatsoever that this border is secure?"
Mayor Eric Adams has reiterated the city is at max capacity and cannot handle an additional influx of migrants, urging those seeking asylum to "consider another city."
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As of July 16, the city says it has over 54,800 migrants in care, with 188 sites set up to accommodate them. There were more than 2,800 migrants entering NYC care just one week prior.
It's a small number compared to the hundreds of thousands that hit the border each month, but it has left the city overwhelmed — with Adams having called for federal help for months.
Migrants await registration outside of the Roosevelt Hotel in midtown Manhattan on Tuesday, August 1, 2023. The asylum seekers are forced to wait on the streets, since the hotel is currently at capacity. (Julia Bonavita/Fox News Digital )
He demanded a state of emergency over the migrant crisis earlier this week, calling for adequate funding in order to "localize this madness." Paladino echoed Adams' sentiment on the emergency declaration.
"The sanctuary city policy and the state of emergency needs to be declared here… as you can see with your own eyes, we've got hotels overflowing," Paladino said. "We've got parks being filled... Nothing's off the table, as the mayor said."
New York officials claim nearly 100,000 asylum seekers have arrived in the Big Apple since spring 2022.
"Come up with a plan. We haven't heard a plan. It's absurd," Holden said. "Just let in 100,000 migrants, foreign nationals, unvetted foreign nationals to New York City and say, ‘Here, take them.’"
"We'll have to spend $8 million a day in New York City, and again, we haven't heard a plan from this administration," he continued. "Joe Biden is asleep at the wheel. The whole administration is."
According to a report from Fox 5, the city is currently caring for over 56,000 migrants and more are arriving daily, with the city searching for more places to shelter those who have come to seek asylum.
As the city battles the overwhelming surge and strain on its shelter system, Paladino urged officials to "close the border" and remove its sanctuary city status – an incentive driving many migrants to embark on a journey to specifically to New York City and others with the same status.
"Close the border. We know that's not going to happen," Paladino said. "All right, let's face it, while Biden is in office, that's not going to happen. It needs to happen. It's not going to happen. So what should New York do? Turn the buses around, lift the sanctuary city status."
"I'm tired about hearing about money. This is enough about money," she continued. "Stop. Turn the people around. Get the buses out of here. They can't come here anymore. There's no more room. It's ruining New Yorkers' quality of life now."
Fox News' Adam Shaw, Michael Lee and Julia Bonavita contributed to this report.