Asylum-seekers bused from New York City were deceived into traveling to Buffalo last summer, and many found themselves staying in a hotel near Buffalo Niagara International Airport that had unclean conditions, foul odors and inadequate amenities, according to a civil lawsuit filed Thursday in federal court in Manhattan.
Stained mattresses were infested with insects, with children living there repeatedly bitten across their bodies, according to the complaint filed by asylum-seekers and past or current employees of Platinum Community Care, one of the organizations assisting migrants at the hotel.
The lawsuit also alleges some asylum-seekers were sexually exploited by several members of the National Guard, sent to act as a stabilizing presence, and staffers for DocGo, the company hired by New York City to oversee the transport of asylum-seekers to upstate locations.
Last summer, hundreds of asylum-seekers were sent to Western New York from New York City when the city began running out of room for the tens of thousands of asylees sent from the country’s southern border.
They were all sheltered at three hotels in Cheektowaga when they first arrived.
Several members of the National Guard and DocGo employees danced intimately and romantically kissed asylum-seekers, according to the lawsuit, which was first reported by the New York Times.
“The employee plaintiffs who observed this were astonished, and again expressed concerns to senior staff,” according to the lawsuit. “But no action was taken, and the inappropriate relationships became more part of accepted daily life.”
One of the plaintiffs, Alexander Vizcaino, a Venezuelan migrant, told the New York Times he was evicted from the Quality Inn hotel after a physical encounter with a GoDoc employee and slept next to a gas station dumpster for three days in November.
Named as defendants are the New York State Division of Military and Naval Affairs; DocGo; Deven Colon, a sergeant…
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