NEW YORK CITY—Mayor Eric Adams announced on Feb. 24 the closure of a shelter and processing center for illegal immigrants at The Roosevelt Hotel in midtown Manhattan. The shutdown will likely take place before June.
The hotel has served as the Asylum Seeker Arrival Center and Humanitarian Emergency Response and Relief Center since May 2023. It will cease operations as part of the continuing efforts by the New York City mayor’s team to wind down operations to shelter the dwindling number of arrivals seeking assistance, according to a statement from the mayor’s office.
The centers have provided support services such as legal assistance, medical care, reconnection services, and humanitarian relief.
The Roosevelt Hotel, which has about 1,000 rooms, has processed 173,000 registrations of the 232,000 illegal immigrants who have entered the city since 2022, according to the statement.
It said the hotel’s assistance programs for illegal immigrants first opened in 2023 when the city was averaging about 4,000 arrivals each week. The number has since dropped to about 350 per week.
“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 in a video posted to his X account.
The mayor said that 53 other emergency shelter sites would be closed by June. He said these accomplishments were made possible by “the successful strategies we put in place here in New York City, and because of policies we advocated for at the border.”
The city has expanded work authorization and pathways to self-sufficiency for the asylum-seekers; 84 percent of adults eligible for work authorization had received or applied for it through the city’s system, according to its statement.
The city’s Asylum Application Help Center, notably the first of its kind in the United States, has assisted in completing more than 98,000 applications to obtain work authorization, temporary protected status, and asylum, according to the statement.
Other strategies to deal with the large number of people in the city’s care include reticketing, case management, and 30- and 60-day notices. Adams credits these programs for the overall decrease in the number of asylum-seekers in the city’s care.
The city has purchased 53,200 tickets to help illegal immigrants get to their desired destinations, and has done 873,000 case management sessions to help them find a sustainable path outside the care system of the city, the mayor’s office said.
