Homeless men at Randall's Island shelter say city is treating migrants "better than us"
NEW YORK -- Mayor Eric Adams is taking heat over his new shelter for migrants on Randall's Island.
His critics are homeless men who live in a shelter just yards away, CBS2's Marcia Kramer reported Thursday.
If you're forced to live in a 65-year-old former psychiatric hospital that has been turned into a men's shelter, you can't help being jealous of the soft landing New York City is providing for migrant men arriving from South America - especially if you have a bird's-eye view of the new facility.
"We get treated bad. They get treated better than us. That's not fair," said Gabriel De La Cruz.
"They treat you wrong, like you're lower than nothing," said Lee Brown.
De La Cruz and Brown live in a men's homeless shelter that's about 350 yards as the crow flies from the new tent city for migrants that opened this week.
In terms of the treatment and quality of life, the centers are poles apart. The pictures tell the tale.
Men at the migrant center, who are only supposed to be here for four days, have a recreation room with multiple TVs, plush couches, telephones for calling home, Xbox, foosball tables and games.
The recreation room at the homeless shelter, where men stay indefinitely, has a single TV and uncomfortable, molded plastic chairs.
The migrants have a cafeteria with condiments on the table, a rotating menu of South American specialties, and even bottled water and soft drinks in coolers.
There are no condiments on the tables at the homeless shelter. Water comes from a red and yellow jug and overcooked macaroni and cheese appears to be a menu staple.
"The food is, oh man, forget about it. The food is garbage man. It's not cooked well," said De La Cruz.
Brown says the elevators are always broken.
"I'm a diabetic," said Brown. "Right now I've got to walk up six flights of stairs. I mean seven flights of stairs."
Both men say Adams should even the playing field.
"He should make it even. We've been here for the longest and we're getting treated the worst," said Brown.
Kramer put the question to the mayor.
"This is not about comparing those who need assistance and care from the city. We're not doing that," said Adams. "There's always going to be reasons that people are going to feel as though someone else is getting something better than them. My job is to make sure everyone gets a place to sleep that's safe, three meals a day, and the support that they need so they can cycle out of being in the shelter."
Adams ducked the question of whether the cost of caring for the 21,000 asylum seekers will force the city to cut other services.
"It's an economic challenge. We need money from the White House. We need to allow people to be able to work," said Adams.
So far, the city has not received a dime from the feds, but Adams said he's grateful for new border policies that have slowed the flow.
Only two buses arrived from Texas on Thursday, down from nine or 10 a day, according to Adams.
