The hotel had been the 33-year-old Venezuelan’s home for the past two months. But as the United States prepares for a new presidential administration, the Roosevelt Hotel has also become a symbol of the uncertainty facing the city’s migrants and asylum seekers.

Since 2014, New York City has limited its cooperation with federal authorities seeking to deport “unauthorised” residents of the metropolis, embracing its identity as a “sanctuary city“.

But with Donald Trump returning to the White House in January, Zarate and others fear what might lie ahead in the coming months.

“Trump said he was going to do the biggest deportation and remove political asylum,” Zarate, an asylum applicant, told Al Jazeera with a gloomy look. “That worries me because I am coming to this country to work to give a better future to my children.”

New York in the spotlight

Zarate, her husband Rogel and their two kids were preparing to leave the Roosevelt Hotel less than 48 hours after Trump won the 2024 presidential election.