New York City’s last remaining "migrant hotel" will soon cease to be an emergency shelter, following the Trump administration’s border crackdown that eased pressure on Texas – which had previously bused waves of migrants to the Big Apple under former President Joe Biden.
The Row, a prominent hotel in the Times Square district, will wind down its operations over the next eight months, as about 3,400 people remain within its 1,300-room confines, according to NY1.
New York City Mayor Eric Adams told the network in a statement that his administration "successfully helped more than 200,000 migrants leave our shelter system and take the next step toward self-sufficiency."
"The migrant population in our care continues to decline, and we have closed 64 emergency migrant sites, including all of our tent-based facilities," he said, as hotels around the city, like the Row and the Roosevelt, and large areas like Floyd Bennett Field in Marine Park, Brooklyn were crammed with migrants during the heat of the crisis.
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Adams said the operations were necessary in order to ensure "no family slept on the street." He said that the city’s Asylum Application Help Center has processed 111,000 such applications for federal protected status and authorization to work in the U.S.
The outlet reported that New York City has expended resources for a total of 65,000 travel tickets to other cities in an effort to save city taxpayers in the long run.
There was no immediate indication of where the immigrants currently at the Row will go if they are still there when the program runs its course by April 2026.
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The once-posh Roosevelt Hotel, which shuttered during the COVID-19 pandemic, was another popular spot for housing migrants after it was repurposed by the city in 2023.
That lodging, on the East Side, began winding down migrant housing operations in February, the city said in a separate announcement, ushering in the closure of the Asylum Seeker Arrival Center as well.
The city has not said much about what will happen to migrants after the last one exits the Row, but in the past the Adams administration told Gothamist that many found their own housing, moved into the city's regular homeless shelter operations or left town.
"While we’re not done caring for those who come into our care, today marks another milestone in demonstrating the immense progress we have achieved in turning the corner on an unprecedented international humanitarian effort," Adams said at the time, adding New York was faced with "unprecedented challenges" in recent years.
The mayor, who remains a candidate for re-election, has been overshadowed in the November race by far-left state Assemblyman Zohran Mamdani, D-Queens, former Gov. Andrew Cuomo and the more gregarious Republican nominee Curtis Sliwa.
Original article source: Last migrant hotel in New York City set to close as 'emergency shelter' program sunsets
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