FLUSHING, Queens (PIX11) -- An immigrant resource fair gathered dozens of people in Queens on Monday. Queens Borough President Donovan Richards said Mayor Adams is not on the side of the migrant community.
Roxana, a migrant from Paraguay says attending this immigrant resource fair in Flushing was a big help. “Con lo legal,” she said in Spanish, meaning she needed help on how to move forward with her path to legal status in the United States, adding that it seems like it is getting more complicated under the Trump administration.
“We will not turn our backs on the immigrant community,” said Richards during the event. He also shared his commitment to the migrant community, something he said Mayor Adams is not doing.
“That interview on Fox and Friends last week was disgusting, it gave an interpretation that he is in the the pocket of the border czar Homen,” added Richards.
On Monday, Mayor Adams announced the city will be closing down the migrant shelter at the Roosevelt Hotel and 53 other migrant shelters around the city by June.
“Do you believe the city is ready to close these shelters?” PIX11's Eliecer Marte asked Richards.
“No, because it is like the re-arraigning of the chairs of the Titanic. We have to house people,” he responded.
The mayor's decision was made based on a major decrease in the number of incoming migrants. That number according to the city is now about 350 per week compared to about 4-thousand at its peak.
"There's nothing humane about having individuals enter the country with no place to go," said Adams. "No sponsors here. No ability to take care of themselves and push the cost onto cities. It's just wrong."
Doris Josefina who is a current resident at the Roosevelt Hotel shelter says she worries she won’t have a place to live if these doors are closed for her.
But beyond housing, Richards tells me that ICE Raids are causing a chilling effect in Queens.
“There is a chilling effect on Queens County right now. Children are not going to school and students not showing up to their courses at CUNY,” concluded Richards.
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