Dozens of illegal immigrants were seen sleeping outside a New York City hotel as the Democrat-run city continues to struggle with a surge of migrants from the southern border.
The migrants slept across three city blocks on Monday morning outside the Roosevelt Hotel in Manhattan, which the city has packed with migrants since it reopened as a migrant shelter, the New York Post reported.
"I came to New York City because I thought there would be help," migrant Abderahim Mahamat Saleh, from the Central African Republic, told the Post. "I wish I didn’t come to New York."
Some migrants slept in vans along the street, but the vehicles quickly filled up.
The hotel has been at capacity all weekend, which has caused pushing and shoving by migrants to get inside.
"They tell us there is no room. There is going to be like [sic], they're all full. We have to wait. Maybe two weeks, maybe two days, who knows?" migrant Mohamed Mokhtar said. "They give us the ticket. They said they're going to call us and they didn't."
Democratic mayor Eric Adams's office said in a statement that New Yorkers can expect to see more migrants sleeping on sidewalks.
"While we at least offered all adults a temporary place to wait off the sidewalks last night, some may have chosen to sleep outside and, in all honesty, New Yorkers may continue to see that more and more as hundreds of asylum seekers continue to arrive each day," the office said.
New York City has struggled to manage the migrant influx. Adams's administration is handing out flyers at the southern border telling migrants to "consider another city."
The flyer details the high cost of housing and food migrants will have to pay if they travel to New York City.
"Please consider another city as you make your decision about where to settle in the U.S.," the flyer says in English and Spanish.
The city's struggles come after Adams promised on the campaign trail that New York would "remain a sanctuary city under an Adams administration." Adams in January said New York City has "no room" for migrants.