Our nation is overwhelmed with issues lately, but one that has seemed to be lost in the shuffle is the illegal immigrant situation that is plaguing the country.
Over 36,400 illegal migrants have arrived in New York City in recent months, and city taxpayers have spent millions of dollars caring for these intruders. Officials in New York City have placed them in at least 14 hotels at no cost.
Felipe Rodriguez, a whistleblower who has been an employee at the Row Hotel since 2017, shared his concerns with Fox News, “The chaos that we see at the Row today is compiled by migrants being drunk, drinking all day, smoking marijuana, consuming drugs, and domestic violence, uh, people having sex in the stairs, young people, teenagers, they use the fire exit stairs to go in there and do that they do.”
“We have people actually trying to act like the hotel is theirs and we have no rights. The form in which they keep their rooms is horrendous. They don’t clean it, they don’t fold their clothes. It’s piles and piles, they’re hoarding clothes, they’re hoarding whatever they can hoard.”
There’s no accountability. And when you go into their rooms and say something, the hotel management, especially the GM [general manager] has directed us that we’re not allowed to tell them nothing. They have carte blanche at the Row.”
When NYC Mayor Eric Adams attempted to relocate male illegals staying at the Watson Hotel in Hell’s Kitchen on the taxpayer’s dime, they refused.
This heinous behavior is wreaking havoc on New York City businesses, which are losing customers and revenue as a result. Businesses in the area have been forced to reduce shifts, and some employees will be laid off in the coming weeks and months.
Big Apple businesses say they’re losing their shirts over the ongoing migrant crisis.
Owners and staff at Manhattan shops and restaurants told The Post that sales have plummeted — and jobs lost — since City Hall began forking over millions to house migrants in hotels.
“We 100% will have to cut shifts, and some people will lose their jobs over the next four weeks,” said Ana Ivkosic, owner of Cafe Wattle, which is located down the block from a 492-room Holiday Inn in the Financial District that began housing migrants earlier this month.
With well-heeled tourists replaced by penniless refugees from Venezuela, Peru, and Ecuador, revenue has plunged. Total sales for menu items like $2.50 cups of coffee and $10 acai bowls are down 75% some days. The cafe used to clear $2,000 on a good day in January but now might ring up only $500.
“It has not been a decline, it’s been a cliff,” Ivkosic said, adding the café began closing early this past weekend and one staffer is already being let go.
Adams intends to continue using hotels to address the crisis and recently signed a new $275 million deal with the Hotel Association of New York City to house at least 5,000 migrants.
