Hundreds of migrants — at least some bussed to the Big Apple by Texas Gov. Greg Abbott — lined up outside Lincoln Hospital in The Bronx on Sunday to get healthcare coverage, food and other items including school supplies and free phones.
The event, organized by the city hospital system, was billed as a “resource and family fun day” for the migrants and their children, many of whom have come to New York City in droves in recent weeks.
“I came to New York about three days ago. I am a welder, and I am looking for work here,” Venezuelan refugee Adrian Medina, 32, said through a translator.
Medina said he arrived on a bus that left Texas five days ago, after a solo trek from his home country that included six days of walking in the jungle.
Now living at Bellevue Men’s Shelter, Medina said he saw a flier for the event there. He was waiting in line for ice cream when he spoke to The Post.
“I’m feeling a little bit better now, but when I first arrived, I wasn’t good, “he said. “We did not sleep or eat well.”
A fellow Venezuelan, Luis Quintana, 48, said he came to the event “to get an ID and health insurance” after arriving in the city from Texas on Friday.
“I’m feeling well now, but I wasn’t. I was uncomfortable on the bus. The bathroom on the bus was closed for several hours,” Quintana said.
“I came to New York to get away from the delinquency in Venezuela, cops in the streets, armed people. I want to work and progress.”
A rep for Medicaid provider MetroPlusHealth, which co-sponsored the event, said it expected about 1,200 migrants, mostly children, to attend.
At least some of the migrants had been bussed to New York City by Texas’s Republican governor, who has raged about what he calls Dem President Joe Biden’s out-of-control lax border policies, while also targeting Democratic city mayors.
The migrants crossed the Mexico border into Texas illegally, then said they were seeking asylum, which allows them to legally stay in the US while their cases wind through the courts.
MetroPlusHealth said it was offering at least temporary healthcare coverage for the migrants at Sunday’s event.
The line to get into the event on the hospital’s Great Lawn stretched down the block.
Migrants were also provided library cards and back-to-school supplies for their kids.
City Hall estimates more than 4,000 migrants have arrived in the city in recent weeks.
The city Department of Homeless Services on Friday asked Big Apple hotels to help find 5,000 rooms to house newcomers — on top of a previous request of 600.