Asylum-Seeking Migrants Begin Arriving At Roosevelt Hotel
The 1,000 room hotel in Midtown closed over the pandemic, but is now being used to house an influx of immigrants seeking asylum in the United States. Fifteen buses arrived at the hotel early in the morning of May 19th. Press swarmed the scene.
| 19 May 2023 | 01:33
Migrant families began arriving on May 19 at The Roosevelt Hotel on E. 45th St. Photo: Keith J. Kelly (
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The Roosevelt Hotel–in collaboration with the Port Authority and NYC Health + Hospitals–began accepting the first fifteen buses of asylum-seeking immigrants seeking a place to stay around 7 a.m. on Friday, May 19th.
One-hundred-and-seventy-five rooms will be available for the migrant families, a number eventually expected to scale up to 850 rooms.
The hotel–named after president Theodore Roosevelt and developed in large part by the New York Central Railroad–closed in 2020 after around 96 years of service, with the COVID-19 pandemic cited as the culprit. Located at 45 E. 45th St. and holding 1,025 rooms, the hotel has been granted a new task that does not involve boosting New York’s tourist or hospitality industry profits.
Press swarmed the scene in an attempt to interview the immigrants, including NBC News, ABC7 New York, and Fox 5 NYC. Speaking to Fox 5 NYC, a father of two from Venezuela told interviewers that “thank God we are somewhat stable here in New York City. They are taking us to a hotel.” Another woman from Venezuela told Fox 5 that “she’s happy to have a roof over her head” and that she had been staying in a shelter with over 300 people. She further added that the “journey through the jungle [on the way to the United States] is unimaginable. You have to live to tell the tale, and some people don’t make it out alive.”
Mayor Adams has said that the hotel will serve as a “centralized intake center” for the considerable number of migrants arriving in New York City, which was estimated to be over 4,000 just a week-and-a-half ago. Migrants will have access to medical and legal services at the hotel, with the option of receiving shelter placement.
Around 40,000 immigrants are currently in New York City’s care, and Adams has said approved locations are not yet meeting capacity. In Brooklyn, school gymnasiums were initially approved as a waypoint for migrants until some locals mounted resistance. Rikers Island, the home of a massive jail complex on the East River, is also being considered as a potential intake center.
Meanwhile, state Supreme Court Justice Sandra B. Sciortino granted a restraining order to Orange County that prevents more migrants from being bused to seek shelter there. 186 migrants already housed in two Newburgh hotels will be allowed to stay there.