For the first time, the New York National Guard has opened up about the work they are doing at two Staten Island shelters.

Anyone driving by the hotels on Wild Avenue on Staten Island would not be able to tell that two of the hotels are now home to several hundred migrants.

The New York National Guard has been at the hotels helping out for a few weeks.

“They were confusing us for [United States Border Patrol]. They were confusing us for something else,” lieutenant Matthew Sanagustin, the leader at the site, said. “We are not a show of force. We are here as a show of support.”

A few weeks ago, Gov. Kathy Hochul's office deployed the New York National Guard for what the governor called “logistical assistance.”

More than a dozen migrants living in the hotels told NY1 they were happy the National Guard was there because some people inside were not following the rules and leaving feces in the stairwell, smoking inside and being rude to the staff.

Sanagustin said the National Guard has brought order, especially because several of the soldiers speak Spanish.

“So the uniform, which they once saw as a symbol of authority and fear, is now a sign of hope,” Sanagustin said.

NY1 got an exclusive look inside the shelters without cameras rolling.

Inside, at the front of the hotel, the National Guard has soldiers stationed where visitors check in and migrants walk through.

When NY1 walked through, the hotel was quiet and clean.

While NY1 did not go into any of the hotel rooms, migrants were seen entering and exiting their rooms. In the hallway, some migrants waited to see a doctor, who has an office on the first floor.

The National Guard has taken a hotel room and converted it into its command center, where things like schedules are put in place.

Where hotel guests would typically have breakfast, a food center now exists. There is a microwave and a small communal kitchen area, since there are no kitchens in the rooms.

In that area, there are other rooms, too. One has food that has been prepared for the migrants. Another has essentials, such as diapers, baby formula and various toiletries, that migrants can sign out. There are also donations organized into various piles to make it easier for migrants to sift through.

Sanagustin feels the migrants have embraced the National Guard. He said the kids give the soldiers high-fives and even have a nickname for him.

According to Sanagustin, the National Guard was alerted about a man harassing the migrants and calling them derogatory names.

“We are here as a presence," Sanagustin said. "And it does make a huge difference when the U.S. Army comes here.”

Sanagustin said that since his team has arrived at the hotel, the person who was harassing the migrants has not been a problem.

“We haven’t seen him ever since we came here,” Sanagustin said.

The National Guard’s work will continue. Sanagustin said they helped get school buses to drop off kids at the hotels, so parents wouldn’t have to walk miles to the school.

Trying to get some English classes offered could be next.

“These people look at us and we look at them,” Sanagustin said. “We look at them like we were in their shoes at one point.”

For Sanagustin, this is not a metaphor.

“My family came from the Philippines,” Sanagustin said. “I came to the country with my family, who only had $500 in their pocket.”

Sanagustin said he sees himself in the children at these hotels.

How long will the National Guard be stationed at the hotels? Sanagustin does not know.

But as long as they are, Sanagustin said he hopes the soldiers will be an inspiration.