Biden avoids mentioning NYC migrant protest during city visit, touts big spending at rail yard

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Rep. Gimenez: Migrants refusing to leaving NYC hotel shows 'entitlement'

Rep. Carlos Gimenez, R-Fla., on Biden's visit to NYC as the border crisis continues and his push for DHS to allow border chief testimony

President Biden traveled to New York City on Tuesday to tout his "mega" infrastructure spending, but did not mention the protests taking place on the city streets among illegal migrants who are pushing back on their removal from a Manhattan hotel.

Fox News Digital received no response from Biden ahead of his NYC speech, after he was asked about the migrants who are sleeping outside the Watson Hotel and complaining about conditions at the Brooklyn Terminal Center. Biden also did not address the ongoing situation during his speech Tuesday touting the major infrastructure law.

"This law is the most significant investment in rail… since we created Amtrak," Biden said at the West Side Rail Yard in New York City Tuesday, promoting a project made possible by the infrastructure measure.

"When the project is complete, trains will be in and out of New York more quickly, more safely, with fewer interruptions," Biden said.

MIGRANTS REMAIN CAMPED IN NYC STREET AFTER NEARLY 48 HOURS TO PROTEST EVICTION FROM FREE STAY AT LUXURY HOTEL

The illegal immigrants, who traveled to the Big Apple from the souther border, were initially given taxpayer-funded rooms at the Watson Hotel in Midtown Manhattan. Upon relocation to a new migrant relief center, migrants pushed back and refused to leave the luxury building for several days.

Migrants are seen outside the Watson Hotel in Midtown Manhattan, Monday, Jan. 30, 2023. Some slept on the street rather than be relocated to the Brooklyn Cruise Terminal over the weekend. (Jennifer Mitchell for Fox News Digital)

On Tuesday morning, the NYPD removed tents lining the street in an effort to clear the sidewalks, but the migrants remained in place, according to several local news reports.

Biden also did not say whether he would assist Mayor Eric Adams with the protests unfolding outside the Hell's Kitchen hotel, despite the mayor's attempts to gain federal support to help manage the city's crisis.

"The facilities at Brooklyn Cruise Terminal will provide the same services as every other humanitarian relief center in the city, and the scheduled relocations to Brooklyn Cruise Terminal this weekend took place as planned," Adams said in a statement provided to Fox News Digital. "We remain in serious need of support from both our state and federal governments."

After thousands of migrants were bussed to his city from the southern border, Adams visited El Paso, Texas, in January and declared the situation a "national crisis."

A view from the surroundings of the Watson Hotel in Manhattan on Jan. 29, 2023. (Selcuk Acar)

Biden visited the border for the first time since taking office in 2021, but has remained detached from the ongoing crisis affecting cities nationally.

Migrants and advocates are reportedly coming together for a planned protest outside the Watson Hotel Tuesday "to demand NYC show compassion and stop moves to Brooklyn Cruise Terminal in Red Hook."

NYC HOTEL WORKER CALLS OUT CITY AS MIGRANTS ‘DESTROY’ ROOMS, ‘DISRESPECT’ EMPLOYEES: ‘NO ACCOUNTABILITY’

The Brooklyn Cruise Terminal Humanitarian Emergency Response and Relief Center, which was intended for single adult male migrants, was scheduled to open after Adams said NYC had reached "its breaking point."

Migrants are seen outside the Watson Hotel in Midtown Manhattan, Monday, Jan. 30, 2023. (Jennifer Mitchell for Fox News Digital)

The Democratic mayor assured that the new facility provides a comfortable space after several migrants who went there immediately turned around and went back to the hotel, citing a lack of bathroom space and heat.

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"Police responded to the location for crowd control; no arrests or further police actions were taken," the New York Police Department (NYPD) said of their involvement in the unfolding situation in a statement to Fox News Digital Tuesday. They did not respond when asked if there would be crowd control at Tuesday's protest.