Luiz C. Ribeiro for N.Y. Daily News/Tribune News Service via Getty Images
(NEW YORK) — New York City’s iconic Roosevelt Hotel reopened its doors over the weekend after nearly three years — but this time, to a slightly different clientele.
The historic hotel, which was built in the 1920s and named in honor of President Theodore Roosevelt, is now hosting New York City’s first “asylum seeker arrival center” amid an expected influx of migrants, Mayor Eric Adams announced Saturday.
Located in Midtown Manhattan near Grand Central Terminal, the Roosevelt Hotel is “serving as a centralized intake center for all arriving asylum seekers and providing migrants with access to a range of legal, medical and reconnection services, as well as placement, if needed, in a shelter or humanitarian relief center,” according to Adams.
The mayor said asylum seekers arriving in New York City will be directed to the arrival center at the Roosevelt Hotel, which will also open up 175 rooms for children and families until it is scaled to approximately 850 rooms. An additional 100 to 150 rooms will be reserved for asylum seekers in transition to other locations. Asylum seekers already in the city’s care will also have access to the arrival center and its services, according to Adams.
Adams described the asylum seeker arrival center as the first of its kind in New York City. It is also the ninth Humanitarian Emergency Response and Relief Center that the city has opened along with 140 emergency shelters since more than 65,000 asylum seekers have arrived in the city — a number that is “expected to rapidly accelerate” now that so-called Title 42 restrictions have lifted, the mayor said.
The restrictions, which lifted at 11:59 p.m. ET last Thursday, were a pandemic-related immigration policy that allowed the United States to swiftly turn back migrants at its border with Mexico for the last three years in the name of protecting public health.
Adams said New York City has reached its capacity and called for additional support from the state and federal governments as the city grapples with the “crisis.”
(HOUSTON) — Police in Houston shot and killed a suspect at a party who allegedly threatened his neighbors with a knife Saturday night, authorities said.
Officers responded to calls late Saturday night to a home in the 100 block of Palmyra Street, where a man was wielding a knife after complaining that his neighbors were playing their music too loudly, according to the Houston Police Department.
“I learned that the deceased male, who came to and approached the party earlier, basically yelling, ranting and raving claiming the music was too loud and also visibly displayed a knife with him at the time,” executive assistant chief Ban Tien said at a news conference Saturday night.
According to Tien, the officer at the scene was gathering information when they noticed the suspect returned carrying a knife with him.
Houston police said the suspect refused to drop his weapon after multiple requests and began to approach the officer, backing him into his vehicle.
“Officer subsequently dispatched his firearm, at least once, striking the male multiple times,” Tien said.
Immediately following the shooting, the officer applied first aid to the suspect, but the man didn’t survive his injuries, according to Houston PD.
The shooting happened outside a graduation party, according to ABC News Houston station KTRK.
No information about the suspect and the officer has been released.
The Houston Police Department did not respond to ABC News’ request for comment.
(YUMA, Ariz.) — At least seven people were shot, two fatally, during a gathering in Yuma, Arizona, late Saturday, police said.
No suspects were in custody Sunday as investigators worked to identify the person or persons who committed the deadly act, police officials said. A $1,000 reward is being offered for information leading to the arrest and prosecution of those responsible, police said.
The shooting unfolded just before 11 p.m. in a residential neighborhood southeast of downtown Yuma, said Lt. Craig Johnson of the Yuma Police Department.
Officers who responded to the scene found several people injured, Johnson said.
Several off-duty law enforcement officers were in the area when the gunfire erupted and quickly responded to assist with this incident, police officials said in a statement released Sunday.
A 19-year-old man found gravely wounded at the scene, was taken to a hospital by private car prior to police arriving, authorities said. The teenager was pronounced dead at Yuma Regional Medical Center a short time after being taken there, police said.
A 20-year-old man was found at the scene suffering from a gunshot wound and taken by the Yuma Fire Department to Yuma Regional Medical Center, where he was pronounced dead, police said.
A 16-year-old boy suffered life-threatening injuries in the shooting and was taken to Yuma Regional Medical Center before being flown to a trauma center in Phoenix more than 200 miles away, officials said.
Four other teenagers, ranging in age from 15 to 19, were being treated at Yuma Regional Medical Center for non-life-threatening injuries, police said.
Despite the suspect or suspects remaining on the loose Sunday, Johnson said there was no credible ongoing threat to the community.
This is a developing story. Please check back for updates.
(WASHINGTON) — Rep. Michael McCaul, R-Texas, said Sunday the House Committee on Foreign Affairs will continue to pursue contempt charges for Secretary of State Antony Blinken. Congress subpoenaed Blinken to turn over the dissent cable regarding the withdrawal of American personnel in 2021.
“I am prepared to move forward to contempt proceedings,” McCaul, the committee’s chairman, told ABC “This Week” co-anchor Jonathan Karl. “This would be the first time a secretary of state has ever been held in contempt by Congress and it’s criminal contempt, so I don’t take it lightly.”
If Blinken is held in contempt, his case would be turned over to the Department of Justice, however it is unlikely the Biden DOJ would prosecute Blinken.
Karl also pressed McCaul on the recent expiration of Title 42 and its impact on border security. Officials expected a surge at the border following the end of this policy, one that called for the expulsion of illegal migrants at the border. Secretary of Homeland Security Alejandro Mayorkas told “This Week” on Sunday that encounters at the border have dropped significantly since Title 42’s expiration.
“We’ve actually seen a 50% drop in encounters at the border compared to the days before Title 42 ended,” Mayorkas said. “Why? We’ve been preparing for this and are executing.”
When asked for a response to the secretary’s statement, McCaul said this should have happened sooner.
“Why did it take him so long?” McCaul said. “I mean, I told him from day one, you can call it whatever you want, but the migrant protection protocols were working.”
McCaul also said there could be room for a bipartisan bill on border security but he recognized that the recent GOP proposal on border security will not pass in the Senate. The proposal calls for the reconstruction of Trump’s border wall and the reinstatement of the “Remain in Mexico” policy.
“I’m still hopeful that there are rational Democrats out there who will work with us on some of these provisions,” McCaul said.
House Republicans recently passed a bill that would raise the nation’s debt limit and cut spending in certain areas. Experts have warned that a national default could occur as early as June 1 if no deal is struck.
“How concerned are you that we’re heading toward a default?” Karl asked.
“I think defaulting on our full faith and credit, any financial person will tell you it’s very catastrophic,” McCaul responded. “They said [Republicans] couldn’t govern, we got a border bill passed.”
(LOS ANGELES) — Millions of people on the West Coast are facing a continuation of intense early-season heat for multiple days, forecasts show.
Washington state began seeing record-breaking temperatures at the start of the weekend. On Sunday, Seattle could reach 90 degrees for the first time this year, which would also break the daily record high of 88 degrees. Highs in Portland and Medford, Oregon, could also break records before the weekend is through.
These temperatures are coming well in advance — more than a month — ahead of when they usually start creeping up.
The region, known for its typically cool and rainy climate, has been experiencing more uncharacteristic heat waves and wildfires in recent years.
The temperatures could raise the risk of heat-related illness, especially as the majority of households in the region are not equipped with central air conditioning.
High temperatures are cranking up even more further down the coast. Fresno, California, is forecast to be approaching 100 degrees on Sunday, with high temperatures of 95 degrees to 100 degrees for at least the next five days.
About 12 million people are under heat advisories along the West Coast.
More extreme heat is an indicator of human-caused climate change, according to scientists.
Extreme heat is the deadliest natural hazard in the U.S.
More than 230 locations in the U.S. have seen the annual number of minimum mortality temperature heat days — temperatures at which the health risks also start to rise — by 21 more days on average since 1970, according to an analysis by Climate Central.
While the South and Southeast tend to be the riskiest heat spots, increases in days above local minimum mortality temperature were observed in every region in the U.S., according to Climate Central.
(WASHINGTON) — Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas on Sunday defended the country’s border policies, insisting the Biden administration was taking a strong enough stance on a surge of migration while batting away claims it was being overly strict.
Mayorkas took issue with criticism from progressives who compared President Joe Biden’s policies to those of former President Donald Trump, who required migrants to apply for asylum in countries they passed through before applying for it the U.S. The secretary pointed to the 50% drop in encounters at the border before the end of Title 42, allowing for expedited deportations of undocumented migrants.
“This is not an asylum ban. We have a humanitarian obligation as well as a matter of security to cut the ruthless smugglers out. That is a responsibility of government and we are doing that, and Jon, it is not a ban at all,” Mayorkas told “This Week” co-anchor Jonathan Karl.
He went on, “What our rule provides is that an individual must access those lawful pathways that we have made available to them. If they have not, then they must have sought relief in one of the countries through which they have traveled and been denied. And if they haven’t done either, it’s not a ban on asylum, but they have a higher threshold of proof that they have to meet. That is a presumption of ineligibility that can be overcome.”
Mayorkas also fended off barbs over the White House’s plan to release some migrants without mandated court dates due to overcrowding in facilities housing those who cross the border despite a judge’s recent ruling scrapping the policy.
“We have an obligation to comply with that ruling,” he said. “We respectfully disagree with the judge. We think it’s a very harmful ruling. When … our border patrol stations become overcrowded, it is a matter of the safety and security of people, including our own personnel, not just the vulnerable migrants, to be able to release them. And this is something that administration after administration has done.”
The secretary’s comments come as Biden faces a barrage of criticism and an avalanche of media coverage over the end of Title 42, a pandemic-era policy that allowed border officials to deport migrants illegally crossing the border.
The ending of the rule, which coincided with the ending of the national emergency around COVID-19, is expected to produce surges of attempted border crossings.
Meanwhile, Democrats and Republicans on Capitol Hill remain divided over how to address unauthorized border crossings, extending a decades long standstill over immigration policy changes in Washington.
House Republicans did pass legislation seeking to limit asylum and extend the Trump-era border wall but the bill is dead on arrival in the Senate, which is controlled by Democrats.
The administration has sought to thread the needle in blunting an expected border surge, making it harder for migrants to apply for asylum while pushing back on any comparisons to the previous administration’s more draconian policies.
Mayorkas also defended Vice President Kamala Harris, who was tasked earlier in the Biden presidency to handle immigration.
“That effort is a yearslong effort. And Vice President Harris has led the investment of more than $3 billion in the Northern Triangle countries of Guatemala, Honduras and El Salvador,” he said.
“That effort began in the Obama-Biden administration. It was terribly taken down during the Trump administration and Vice President Harris has led an extraordinary effort to address the root causes of why people flee their homes in the first instance: violence, poverty, corruption, authoritarian regimes, extreme weather events, persecution and the like.”
(RALEIGH, N.C.) — North Carolina Gov. Roy Cooper on Saturday vetoed a Republican bill that would ban most abortions after 12 weeks, though the politics of the state mean that the possibility of a veto override is imminent.
The Democratic governor would likely need just one Republican defector to prevent the GOP-led legislature from overriding his veto and allowing the current 20-week limit to remain in place — and he implored those lawmakers to exercise that option.
“Maybe it’ll be a friend or family member or even a doctor of one of these Republican legislators who convinces them to step up and do the right thing,” the governor said on Saturday as he issued the veto at a rally of hundreds of abortion rights supporters and voters in downtown Raleigh.
“If just one Republican follows his or her conscience, if just one Republican finds the courage, if just one Republican listens to doctors, if just one Republican is unafraid to stand up to the political bosses, if just one Republican keeps that promise made to the people, then we can stop this ban,” he continued.
Just a few weeks ago, Cooper’s veto pen likely would have been enough to stop a bill from becoming law. But a party-switch from one state representative has handed North Carolina Republicans a veto-proof supermajority.
State Rep. Tricia Cotham, previously a Democrat who ran on supporting abortion rights, announced she was switching to the Republican Party in early April. Cotham voted in favor of the new abortion bill banning the procedure after 12 weeks with some exceptions.
Now, Cooper needs at least one Republican to decline to override his veto to defeat the bill.
Republican leadership has pushed back on Cooper’s criticism of the bill, describing it is a “mainstream abortion compromise.”
“Gov. Cooper has spent the last week actively feeding the public lies about Senate Bill 20 and bullying members of the General Assembly,” Senate Leader Phil Berger said in a statement Saturday after Cooper’s veto.
“He has been doing everything he can, including wasting taxpayer money on poorly attended events, to avoid talking about his own extreme views on abortion,” Berger said. “I look forward to promptly overriding his veto.”
The abortion bill, dubbed the “The Care for Women, Children and Families Act,” passed earlier this month along party lines.
It would ban most abortions at 12 weeks of pregnancy, and offers exceptions in cases of medical emergencies, rape and incest up to 20 weeks and for “life-threatening” fetal anomalies up to 24 weeks.
The legislation would also restrict abortion medication from being mailed.
Providers who perform abortions outside the bills’ parameters would face possible discipline from the state medical board, including possible probation, fines or revoking of licenses.
-ABC News’ Anne Flaherty and Mary Kekatos contributed to this report.
(ALPENA, Mich.) — A teenager helped save his younger sister from an alleged kidnapper by shooting the suspect with his slingshot, Michigan authorities said.
The 8-year-old girl was mushroom-hunting in her backyard in Alpena Township on Wednesday when “an unknown male appeared from the woods,” the Michigan State Police said in a press release on Friday.
The suspect held the girl’s mouth shut but she was able to break free, police said. Her 13-year-old brother witnessed the attack and shot the assailant in the head and chest with his slingshot, police said.
The suspect fled the area but was located by state troopers hiding at a nearby gas station, police said.
“The suspect had obvious signs of injury sustained from the slingshot with wounds to his head and chest,” police said.
The suspect — identified as a 17-year-old from Alpena — was taken into custody and allegedly confessed to detectives that he “planned on severely beating the victim,” police said. He was lodged in the Alpena County Jail without incident, police said.
The suspect was arraigned on Thursday on one count of attempted kidnapping/child enticement, one count of attempted assault to do great bodily harm less than murder, and one count of assault and battery, according to police.
His bond was set at $150,000 and his next court appearance was scheduled for May 17, police said.
The suspect is being charged as an adult but his name has not been released by police.
(UVALDE, Texas) — Over 90% of Uvalde students were picked up early by their parents or guardians from school Friday after a video was discovered circulating social media referencing threats to schools in the area, according to the district.
“These threats have caused families in our school district significant discomfort,” Uvalde Consolidated Independent School District spokesperson Anne Marie Espinoza said in a statement.
The posts, which included an individual with a gun, were first discovered Friday and originated in Del Rio, Texas, a city 70 miles west of Uvalde, Texas, and targeted several school districts including Uvalde, Del Rio and Eagle Pass. Several police agencies investigated the threats throughout the day, and determined they are not credible.
“Unfortunately, as the anniversary of the Uvalde tragedy approaches, we will see more people wanting to scare and disrupt our schools,” the San Felipe Del Rio CISD said in a press release.
Gladys Gonzales, a Uvalde parent, picked up her second-grade daughter from school after hearing about the threats. She said there were only a handful of students left in class when she picked her up. Her other daughter, who was a survivor of the Robb Elementary School mass shooting, was not in school Friday.
“It is nerve-racking every time there are threats,” Gonzales told ABC News. “Law enforcement need to take it serious every time. The fear is real.”
The posts also prompted the Uvalde school district to cancel their pep rally on May 12. The district did not implement an early release for the remaining 10% of students in order to prevent students from arriving at an empty home without guardian supervision.
“I think that fear is always going to be there and as much as we try to prepare ourselves, you can never be too safe,” said Gonzales.
The mass exodus from Uvalde schools Friday afternoon is indicative of a community still reeling from the mass shooting that killed 19 students and two of their teachers nearly one year ago. Uvalde Interim Superintendent Gary Patterson said in a statement that these types of situations are occurring at a high frequency rate. The district became aware of another threat on Snapchat that turned out to have originated in Florida on May 5. Patterson wrote that the post was an attempt to disrupt the school day and did not present any danger to students.
“We cannot afford to take anything for granted,” said Patterson in a statement about the most recent threat. “We expect social media threats to increase as we near our one-year date.”
The Uvalde school district has already elected to end the school year a few days early, so the buildings will be void of students and teachers on the one-year mark of the massacre.
ABC News’ MaryEllen Schwisow and Brian Mezerski contributed to this report.
(NEW YORK) — After a week of blame-shifting, name-calling and protests, New York politicians are coming to terms with the reality of housing and caring for thousands of new migrants.
A new bus of migrants arrived at New York City’s Port Authority Bus Terminal Saturday morning around 6 a.m. as officials remained committed to caring for New York’s newest immigrants, albeit without a clear action plan.
Following the lifting of Title 42 — a pandemic-era rule that allowed the easier expulsion of migrants — Texas Gov. Greg Abbott has continued to bus migrants to major cities like New York. Local, state and city officials have voiced concerns about a lack of planning to accommodate the migrants as New York operates a shelter system above capacity and vows to send migrants to counties that have already declared state of emergencies.
New York Gov. Kathy Hochul sent a letter to President Joe Biden Friday requesting assistance from federal agencies to house migrants on federal land in New York, including military facilities.
“I have determined that this incident is of such severity and magnitude that effective response is beyond the capabilities of the State and the affected local government and that supplementary federal assistance is necessary,” Hochul wrote.
As of Friday, New York City is beyond capacity for its shelter system with over 36,700 migrants housed across 120 locations, according to Hochul. She added that with no more shelter space, 40% of “mid-level hotel stock” in New York City is used for short-term respite centers.
In her letter, Hochul specifically called for the Federal Emergency Management Agency to direct the Department of Defense and National Park Service to assist in building and operating temporary housing on military installations and other government sites.
Hochul told county executives that she expects the federal government to soon step in to provide aid, according to Steve Neuhaus, the executive of Orange County, New York.
Roughly 60 miles from New York City, Orange County became a center for controversy on Thursday when 82 migrants were bused from New York City to the Crossroads Hotel in Newburgh, New York.
Neuhaus told ABC News that New York Mayor Eric Adams did not provide any notice about the migrants to either himself, state police, the local sheriff or Hochul.
“So, it really is an unprofessional way of doing this; this could have gone a lot smoother,” said Neuhaus. “If they said, ‘Look, they’re coming, here’s their names, we’ll work out everything later,’ but it hasn’t gone that way.”
Neuhaus said last week that Adams initially told him 60 male migrants would arrive but a few days later recanted that statement and assured him no buses would arrive, according to Neuhaus. But on Thursday, he claims he received a call that a bus was 15 minutes away from the hotel.
Neuhaus also said he expects more buses to arrive at the Crossroads Hotel and Ramada Inn in Newburgh over the weekend. He said he heard that from county partners — not the city of New York — adding that Governor Hochul is trying her best, but the city “has gone rogue.”
On Friday, Orange County sued New York City and the Crossroads Hotel to stop the housing of migrants. The town of Newburgh, New York, also filed a lawsuit and temporary restraining order against the owner of the Crossroads Hotel Friday, requesting an immediately halt to the “deliberate, hazardous and unlawful conversion” of the hotel as a selected housing site for New York City’s migrant program.
Neuhaus told ABC News that he is not opposed to the arrival of migrants in Orange County but wants them to be vetted, adding that migrant workers arrive each year to work on farms.
New York City Councilmember Ari Kagan expressed a similar frustration about a lack of communication from Eric Adams after he learned that the standalone gym for a public school in Coney Island, New York, would be used to house migrants.
“First time I learned about it was a social media post on Facebook by the principal of that school,” Councilmember Ari Kagan told ABC affiliate WABC.
Nearby residents expressed frustration about the surprise move, citing crime and public health concerns.
“Take them to Gracie Mansion,” one resident told WABC. “Mayor Adams is taking this thing a little too far.”
As New York struggles to house migrants, Adams has moved to relax rules that previously protected homeless families from seeking shelter. Signing emergency executive orders on Wednesday, Adams suspended sections of New York’s administrative code related to right-to-shelter rules, including requiring families to be placed in private rooms with bathrooms and kitchens.
Eric Adams alluded to New York’s challenges in an address to graduates of the City University of New York School of Law on Friday morning.
“These are exciting times, and we know we can move this city forward as we deal with the issues around immigration, the issues around public safety, the issues around how do we build a better city for all,” Adams said.
During the address, students turned so that their backs faced the mayor, with boos and heckles tossed by the crowd — a rough conclusion to a challenging week as New York City faces a crisis with no end in sight.
