‘You learn to respond when somebody needs help’: New Yorkers help save asylum-seeker’s life

A New York Army National Guard soldier and two Naval Militia Marines rushed to the aid of a 23-year-old asylum-seeker who slashed her wrist early on July 22 at the Holiday Inn Queens.

The migrant woman appeared in the hotel lobby where the three members of the New York Military Forces were on duty at the front desk, the military said in a statement Monday. They heard someone call for help and responded immediately, said Staff Sgt. Adam Perez of the New York Army National Guard.

Perez, the leader of the 11-person shift, was on duty with Sgt. Luis Giralde and Lance Cpl. Patricio Rubilar of the Naval Militia Marines. All three were serving as part of Task Force Asylum Seeker, which since October has been assisting with 90,000 migrants bused to New York City from Texas and other border states after arriving in the U.S. claiming asylum.

The three New York service members soon saw blood on the woman’s right arm as they rushed to her aid. Giralde quickly grabbed a bandage from the hotel first aid kit and went to work on her wrist, wrapping it and applying pressure, said Perez, who immediately contacted the New York City Department of Homeless Services representative at the hotel. The rep then called the police and emergency services.

Rubilar began talking to the woman in her native Spanish to find out what had happened. She also had scrapes and bruises on the same arm, and at first she said she had cut herself when she fell.

But, as the woman spoke to Rubilar and Perez, she admitted to thinking about killing herself and cutting herself with a shaving razor.

“She wanted to go back home and she missed her homeland,” Perez said. I think when she saw the blood, that kind of freaked her out.”

Within 10 minutes of the woman entering the lobby, the task force members had bandaged her injuries, and within 15 minutes the emergency medical services were on the scene.

“I’m extremely proud of this team’s quick actions to save a life,” said Lt. Col. Aaron Lefton, commander of Task Force Asylum Seeker. “We are grateful they were in the right place at the right time.”

At the end of July, the task force was made up of some 1,660 service members from the New York Army and Air National Guard, New York Naval Militia, and New York Guard.

The New York Guard is a volunteer, unpaid force that serves at the direction of the governor and assists the state’s National Guard component. The New York Naval Militia is composed almost entirely of federal reserve forces of the Navy, Marine Corps and Coast Guard, according to the state’s Division of Military and Naval Affairs.

“We are just here to help,” Perez said. “As New Yorkers we have been through a lot, and we want to help. And as service members you learn to respond when somebody needs help.”

The young woman was taken to Cornell Presbyterian Hospital in Manhattan and kept for observation for three days, but was returned to the Holiday Inn, where her mother checked on her regularly. So did the city’s homeless services workers and the soldiers, airmen and Naval Militia members of the task force, Perez said.

Some 55,000 migrants were relying on the city’s services late last month.

“These migrants are going through some tough times,” Perez said. “It’s not all sunshine and rainbows.”