Immigrants “sleep” in front of the official residence of Mayor Eric Adams

NEW YORK — A group of immigrants lay on the ground this Thursday, pretending to sleep, in front of Gracie Mansion, the official residence of the mayor of New York, to warn its resident Eric Adams what will soon happen if the city continues with its policy of eliminating the right to shelter that has existed for four decades and leaves the ‘homeless’ on the streets.

The immigrants, who are part of some 120,000 people from various countries who have arrived in the city in the last 18 months, were mostly from Africa, and had been summoned by a coalition of organizations led by the United African Communities and the Coalition of the Immigrant from New York.

“If we don’t see leadership from the mayor regarding newcomers and shelter, what we will see are sleeping bags here, people sleeping in the subway and throughout the city,” warned African Communities executive director Amaha Kassa .

The organizations also criticized the Adams Administration’s decision to limit to 30 days the time that immigrants can stay in shelters created in hotels, tents, and other facilities.

“The mayor must invest in our communities and strengthen our safety net instead of attacking a law that has prevented New Yorkers from being homeless,” said the executive director of the Immigrant Coalition, Murad Awawdeh.

Adams has insistently said that the arrival of thousands of immigrants to the city and the law that requires them to be sheltered has drained the city’s coffers, which, he assured, will face a deficit in 2024 of $2 billion.

To address that crisis, Adams asked a court to void the right to refuge and began limiting the right to refuge to a single month for singles.

“We have been proposing humane and cost-saving solutions to our overburdened shelter system for more than a year,” Awawdeh said during the news conference, which was held in English, French and Spanish as migrants camped in front of the historic residence.

The groups have also proposed increasing funding for legal aid so immigrants can advance their asylum claims, and converting unused offices and hotels into housing.

The immigrants carried signs with messages in Arabic, English and Spanish, such as “Mayor Adams, protect the right to shelter, protect us,” “Safety, dignity, respect” or “immigrants are New York,” while shouting slogans at the mayor.

Adams announced on Thursday that during fiscal year 2023 the city has invested 1,336 million euros to solve the humanitarian crisis due to the arrival of immigrants and announced cuts in the budget to services due to this situation, as he had already warned.