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‘Family fun day’: Hundreds of illegal migrants descend on NYC hospital for free healthcare, food, and phones

August 22, 2022 | | Print Article

Hundreds of illegal migrants formed a block-long line outside New York’s Lincoln Hospital in The Bronx on Sunday, where everything from healthcare to free phones and food was being distributed at an event organized by the city hospital system.

Billed as a “resource and family fun day,” migrants and their children — at least some of whom arrived in New York City courtesy of a bus ride from Texas Governor Greg Abbott — came looking for ice cream, school supplies, library cards, legal advice, health insurance, and an ID.

The event comes as the self-proclaimed sanctuary city has been reluctantly welcoming a steady stream of more than 4,000 migrants in recent weeks, according to the New York Post.

 

“I came to New York about three days ago,” 32-year-old Venezuelan refugee Adrian Medina told The Post. “I am a welder, and I am looking for work here.”

Medina walked alone for six days through a jungle to board a bus in Texas five days ago and has been staying at the Bellevue Men’s Shelter, where he saw a flier for the Lincoln event. When The Post caught up with him, he was waiting in line for ice cream.

“I’m feeling a little bit better now, but when I first arrived, I wasn’t good,” he said. “We did not sleep or eat well.”

Also from Venezuela, Luis Quintana, 48, also arrived in the Big Apple via Texas. He was at the event “to get an ID and health insurance.”

The bus ride reportedly was not a pleasant one.

“I’m feeling well now, but I wasn’t. I was uncomfortable on the bus,” he said. “The bathroom on the bus was closed for several hours.”

“I came to New York to get away from the delinquency in Venezuela, cops in the streets, armed people. I want to work and progress,” Quintana said.

He may be in for an unsettling shock. Crime in New York City has been spiraling out of control for some time now.

One couple brought their two children to the event in the hopes of finding some legal assistance.

“We came here today looking for help from a lawyer for political asylum,” said the mother, Sandy Gonzalez, 36. “We came to get help with immigration.”

Though they entered the United States illegally, because they are seeking asylum, they are able to legally stay in the country until their case makes it through the overwhelmed courts.

The Lincoln Hospital event comes as New York City Mayor Eric Adams struggles to cope with the comparatively few migrants who have found themselves in his city.

As previously reported, the arrival of the second bus full of border-jumpers to arrive in NYC earlier this month sent the progressive mayor into a tizzy.

Though only 14 people reportedly stepped off the bus at the Port Authority terminal, Adams tore into Abbott and claimed some of the travelers came to  New York City against their will.

“This is horrific, when you think about what the governor is doing,” he said.

“We’re finding that some of the families are on the bus that wanted to go to other locations, and they were not allowed to do so,” the mayor claimed. “They were forced on the bus with the understanding that they were going to other locations that they wanted to go to, and when they tried to explain they were not allowed to do so.”

While thousands of migrants flood into Texas on a daily basis as the Biden administration looks the other way, Adams called on the federal government to help bail him out.

“We need help, and we’re reaching out to the federal government to tell them that we need help,” he said. “We’re going to get through this.”

Medicare provider MetroPlusHealth co-sponsored the welcoming Lincoln Hospital event. According to a rep, about 1,200 migrants, many of them children, were expected to attend.

Melissa Fine
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