New York City opens huge shelter for asylum seekers

WASHINGTON

New York City opened a giant emergency shelter Wednesday to temporarily house an influx of asylum seekers.

The Humanitarian Emergency Response and Relief Center, located on Randall's Island in Manhattan, has dormitories, dining facilities, recreation centers and isolation centers for migrants.

A group of migrants from Venezuela were placed in aid tents on the island.

Filmed by Anadolu Agency throughout its construction, the shelter currently accepts single male asylum seekers. But according to officials, it can be designed to host 1,000 people when needed.

On its first day, the shelter saw stepped-up security.

According to New York City officials, the facility will also provide hot showers and laundry services to migrants, and women will be housed in some tents when necessary.

The migrants, most of whom were bused from Texas, go through a registration and first aid procedure in the shelter, which also offers televisions, sofas, board games and telephones for international calls as well as beds and dining tables.

"The history of this country has always been tied to welcoming those who are fleeing harm," New York City Mayor Eric Adams said in a video on Twitter.

"And that is the spirit of this country. It must be done in an organized way, and I believe that we will always be responsible as New York is," he added.

Since April, Texas Republican Governor Greg Abbott has sent hundreds of buses carrying migrants to the Democrat-led cities of New York, Chicago and Washington, D.C.