- The Roosevelt hotel, once a migrant refuge, began to close.
- NYC stops 53 migrant shelters in the middle of political changes.
- Mayor Adams cites cost savings in shelter closures.
New York: New York City puts an end to its $ 220 million rental agreement with the Roosevelt Hotel, owned by Pia, which was a refuge of migrants, following intense criticism from some of the supporters of US President Donald Trump on the use of American taxpayers’ money money at the asylum seeking houses.
The emblematic Hotel of Manhattan was closed in 2020 due to a serious loss of income resulting from the coronavirus pandemic. Three years later, his management signed a rental contract with New York which transformed it into a shelter for a large number of asylum seekers in the United States.
Faced with the pressure of the federal government and the rights, the mayor Eric Adams announced on Monday the closure of the establishment. Adams said the city would close the Roosevelt hotel in “The next months”.
The announcement follows the planned closure or closure of 53 other migrant shelters, including a large installation of tents on the island of Randall, which should close at the end of the month.
The mayor Adams has attributed the closure to the success of emergency and administration policy decisions, declaring that this will help the city save millions of dollars from taxpayers.
“Although we have not finished taking care of those who came to us, today marks another step in demonstrating the immense progress that we have achieved to turn the corner of the unprecedented international humanitarian effort “Said Adams in a video press release.
The Roosevelt hotel served both the literal and symbolic center of the city’s struggle to manage the influx of new arrivals under its laws on the right to shelter. It is in a site of Prime Midtown Manhattan, a few steps from the large terminal central and some of the most expensive office buildings on Park Avenue. He opened in 1924, was appointed according to President Theodore Roosevelt.
The hotel would have housed tens of thousands of migrants in its 1,025 rooms at an estimated cost of $ 200 per night.
The number of arrivals in New York fell to 350 per week, against a summit of around 4,000, the Midtown admission center translating most of the city’s migrants. The hotel, which has welcomed more than 173,000 migrants since its opening as a house in 2023, has struggled to follow the influx. Sometimes migrants waited outside the installation for days.
The Roosevelt hotel served as a key treatment center, with around 75% of migrants who arrived in the city.
The drop in migrants arriving in New York is part of a downward trend in the United States due to changes in immigration policy by current and previous administrations. In July, a month after the Biden administration tightened American border policy, weekly arrivals in the city fell below the 1,000 mark.
The figures continued to drop since President Donald Trump took office last month. It ended access to CBP One, a popular planning application for asylum seekers and intensified the application on the border. Adams promised to support Trump’s repression, urging migrants not to come to New York.
New York has taken care of more than 232,000 migrants since 2022, according to the Town Hall. There are currently less than 45,000 under the care of the city, against a summit of 69,000 in January 2024.
Overall, efforts to reduce the role of the city in the care of migrants should save more than $ 5 billion over the next three years, projections from the Town Hall.