New York City’s infamous “Naked Cowboy,” Robert Burck, appeared in front of the Roosevelt Hotel in Manhattan strumming his guitar as more than a hundred migrants lined up searching for shelter in the Big Apple. Burck, who is a well-known street busker, appeared to be taking advantage of the large media presence drawn to the hotel by the plight currently facing the migrants who have been sleeping on the sidewalks outside the hotel earlier this week.
The video shows a stretch of the sidewalk outside the Roosevelt Hotel on East 45th Street and Vanderbilt Avenue where the mostly adult male migrants lined up hoping to receive housing accommodations from the city. Saul Acevedo took the video on Monday. Acevedo, a legal immigrant, is a resident of Manhattan who has documented the evolving situation facing the migrants outside the hotel since last week. In his narration, Saul asks local residents to bring food, water, and other provisions to assist the migrants.
Breitbart Texas spoke to Acevedo, who works as an events promoter and has been a resident in the area for more than 20 years. Acevedo says the scene outside the hotel has since been cleared after the significant media coverage of the migrants sleeping outside the hotel. As of Thursday morning, the sidewalk outside the hotel was no longer occupied by the migrants. The cardboard used as make-shift mattresses to sleep on the concrete had also been cleared away.
Acevedo told Breitbart Texas many of the migrants had been in the queue outside the hotel for as long as three days. During that time, he witnessed private citizens bringing food and water to the migrants as they waited in line. He did not witness the migrants being provided food or water by the hotel staff. For that reason, Acevedo pleaded during the video for residents to help the migrants with food and water.
Acevedo says he believes the migrants have been scattered to other city run shelters throughout the city.
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The costs of providing shelter and care to the city taxpayers for more than 54,000 migrants are taking its toll on the sanctuary city. New York Mayor Eric Adams initiated a campaign to deliver fliers along the southwest border asking migrants not to come to his “sanctuary city” and to consider other destinations instead.
In a recent press conference, Adams announced he would limit temporary shelter for adult migrants to 60 days to accommodate more family unit migrants. Adams told reporters:
New York City has done more than any other level of government to address this national crisis, providing shelter, food, services, and much more to more than 90,000 asylum seekers since last spring. With more than 54,800 asylum seekers still currently in our care, this effort will intensify adult asylum seekers’ casework services over the next two months to help them take the next step on their journey and ensure we have a bed to place children and families at night.
The mayor renewed his plea to the state and federal government to send the city more funding to accommodate the arriving migrants. “For more than a year now, New York City has responded to this crisis alone, we need our state and federal partners to step up.” Adams emphasized. The city has estimated the total cost to accommodate arriving migrants will reach more than $4 billion over two years.
A request for information from Mayor Adam’s press office regarding the migrant housing situation at the Roosevelt Hotel remains unanswered as of press time.
Randy Clark is a 32-year veteran of the United States Border Patrol. Prior to his retirement, he served as the Division Chief for Law Enforcement Operations, directing operations for nine Border Patrol Stations within the Del Rio, Texas, Sector. Follow him on Twitter @RandyClarkBBTX.