Times Square, scene of violence involving migrants

Police are looking for these two suspects, believed to be migrants and living in a municipal shelter, accused of beating and robbing a tourist from Indiana outside this hotel in the busy Times Square area. This violent incident joins at least 5 others involving migrants that have occurred around the tourist plaza. This family of Venezuelan migrants says that the danger is outside and inside the municipal shelters and that the lack of documents aggravates the situation.

“They should offer those people who have just arrived a faster legalization, you understand, and try to get their papers faster because that is how they place marginalized people. Because? Because they are on the street without paper, without anything, without identification,” commented Abraham Lanaeya, Venezuelan migrant.

Excessive noise, and the use of alcohol and drugs around Times Square generate complaints from neighbors and visitors. The mayor assures that his government strives to protect the quality of life of New Yorkers.

“The laws restrict us what we can do. We, the NYPD, have been enforcing the laws to make sure that some of that public nuisance is something we are not going to accept. We have been very clear on that. They have been executing a real plan to address the quality of life issues they see,” said Eric Adams, Mayor of New York.

Organizations such as the Migrant Defense Project have denounced a climate of rejection towards new arrivals and have called for the approval of the ‘New York for all’ law, to ensure protection and resources for migrants. The law would prohibit police, law enforcement and school resource officers, among other agencies, from questioning people about their immigration status, and would prevent federal laws from being applied to non-public state and local property without a court order.

Jazmín, according to figures from the mayor’s office, migrants continue to arrive at a rate of one thousand per week and there are already more than 200,000 who have arrived in the Big Apple since the spring of 2022.