Nelagal in New York do not have enough food, water and clothes: they walk around people asking for help

Illegal immigrants, brought from Texas by bus to New York, walked around the Staten Island area and knocked on the doors of residents asking for help. They asked for food, clothes and jobs after being placed in local hotels, reports New York Post.

The migrants, many of whom were unprepared for New York's low temperatures, were housed in hotels in Travis Chelsea at the Staten Island Inn, Holiday Inn, Fairfield Inn and Suites Marriott.

The Staten Island Inn is already full of illegal immigrants. And more buses are expected to arrive the next day or so, a Holiday Inn employee said.

“We don't have clothes and we don't eat well – we need a place to work,” said 31-year-old Venezuelan migrant Geraldine Silva outside the Staten Island Inn. She arrived here about a week ago after taking the bus from El Paso.

“We are waiting for clothes,” the mother said, shivering next to the children and other migrants, dressed only in a T-shirt, sweatpants and flip flops.

Local residents said they were not informed that so many migrants would arrive in their middle-class neighborhood at once. This area is already overflowing with families in need.

State of emergency

October 7 New York City Mayor Eric Adams declared a state of emergency in the city due to the influx of migrants. The mayor warned that the influx of illegal immigrants had pushed the city's shelter system to its limits and would cost taxpayers $1 billion by next year.

Felipe Viera, 24, and his wife, Gilimersi Perdomo, 26, from Trujillo, Venezuela, said they arrived in Staten Island six days ago. According to the couple, on the second day of their stay here, Viera needed an urgent appendectomy.

“Living here was fine, but we don't have access to medicine and the food isn't that great. It comes frozen and microwaveable,” Viera said.

“No one told us how long we would be here,” he added. “We did not expect it to be so cold, but God decided so. Everything we wear is what people gave us after we arrived.”

Viera noted that getting medicine for them is a big problem.

“I'm not used to not being able to go to the pharmacy to get medicine,” he said. Everything here needs a prescription. Our only option is to call an ambulance if we need medical attention. There is no one to talk to here. They should at least arrange medical care for the children so that they can be checked on the spot. But we are grateful that at least we have a warm place to sleep.”

According to them, the couple has their own room with a single bed. Families stick together, usually three to four people per room. A truck delivers food every evening: milk, vegetables, fish, cheese, bread, juice.

Illegals went from door to door, knocking on houses, asking for clothes and other essentials.

Terrence Jones, a Staten Island resident and business owner, said he was caught off guard when several migrants rang his doorbell.

“They spoke Spanish. I said that I only speak English. It (the visit of illegal immigrants) was about three times, - said 56-year-old Jones. “They were poorly dressed, they were wearing slippers, a Red Cross blanket. I thought it was weird."

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Andrew Wilkes, a programmer who also lives near the hotels, said he also received repeated knocks on his door.

“They came to me three times. The fourth time was today, and the woman handed me a paper that she was an immigrant, he said. Wilkes added that his wife gave them clothes to help. “Desperate people do desperate things, that's what worries me. This is wrong, you can not overload the area like that. Where are they going to go to school? There is only one school in the neighborhood.”

A Holiday Inn employee was indignant: “Why do we have 50 people when you could transport them to another state? We are located 000 minutes from New Jersey. There is nothing here for them. They have nothing to go shopping with, they have nothing to wash with. I have no idea how they are going to survive.”

Sebastian Bongiovani, 51, co-owner of Verde's Pizza and Pasta House, has been providing free meals to migrants from the moment they arrive.

“What we have seen are starving pregnant women, small children,” he said.

“People come to my pizzeria and ask for food. I tell them to come back at the end of the day. A man came one evening with his pregnant wife and five or six children,” Bongiovani said.

“After all, these people are just hungry,” he added. “People walking around hungry is not good as hell.”

He admitted he was touched when the migrant woman returned the next day to thank him for the free meal.

Enrique Reynoso, 25, migrated from the Dominican Republic with his 22-year-old wife Yudelka Encarnación and their young son.

He said: “Before we got here, we were told that a social worker would come and help us. But most of what she tells us is, "I don't have that information for you." Our top priority is knowing where we can take our child to the doctor if he gets sick, where he can go to school, how I can get a job. Before we arrived here, we were told that we would only be here for five days. But some of those present said that they had been here for 15 days. And they still haven't been told what the next steps will be. I've been going door to door asking for a job, but many companies say that because I don't have documents to legally reside in the US, they can't give me a job. I'm worried because sometimes our son doesn't like the food they give us and we don't have the money to buy him something else.”

“Putting people off at a motel on the highway is bad. But dropping people who are desperate for what they need in an area with few options is much worse. Where are all these immigration non-profits that get tons of cash from the city? However, I am confident that our churches and faith-based organizations will help,” said City Councilman Joe Borelli (GOP).