Roosevelt Hotel Migrant Center to Close in Coming Months

The Roosevelt Hotel, which was was dubbed “the new Ellis Island” as it became the epicenter of the migrant influx since 2022, will be closing by June, Mayor Eric Adams announced.

It is the latest sign that the migrant crisis that saw more than 230,000 asylum seekers arrive in New York, is continuing to ease off.

The hotel, which was used as the Humanitarian Emergency Response and Relief Center, will be one of 53 emergency shelter sites that will close in New York City by June, the mayor said in the Feb. 24 announcement.

The closing is warranted “thanks to the successful strategies we put in place here in New York City,” Mayor Adams said in a video, “and because of policies we advocated for at the border.”

In all, some 232,000 migrants have come to the city since the spring of 2022 and approximately 173,000 of them have passed through the Roosevelt Hotel, completing registration procedures to live and work in the United States. That comes out to about 75 percent of all the migrants who have entered the city in the last three years.

At the peak of the migrant crisis, the city saw 4,000 immigrants and asylum seekers arrive each week, Adams said.

In recent months, Adams said the number of “new arrivals” has dropped to around 350 each week.

There are still 2,852 migrants currently staying at the hotel, according to City Hall spokesperson Liz Garcia.

The mayor says the 91 percent decrease from the high point in summer 2023 is “thanks to our policies.” Migrants who were single could stay in the city shelter system for only 30 days while migrants with families could stay 60 days. It was a policy that drew some heat from advocates for migrants. Adams insisted it was a necessary step as the cost to feed, clothe, and fulfill other needs for migrants was costing the city over $7 billion at its peak and resulted in budget cuts in other areas a year ago.

City Hall said that “intake functions and supportive services will now be integrated into other areas of the system.”

The mayor’s decision to close the Roosevelt is the latest in migrant center closings. In December, Adams announced that 25 emergency migrant shelters would close, including a 3,000-person tent city on the athletic fields on Randalls Island as well as another tent city on federal land in Floyd Bennett Field in Brooklyn.

“We are not done caring for those who came into our care,” Adams said. The mayor calls the center’s closing “another milestone in demonstrating the immense progress we have achieved in turning the corner on the unprecedented humanitarian effort.”

The Monday press release also stated that since October 2023, “40 percent more families with children in humanitarian relief centers each week have taken their next steps.” It goes on to report that the Adams administration reduced asylum-seeker spending by more than $5 billion from the 2024 to 2026 fiscal years.

When a reporter from Straus News visited the Roosevelt Hotel on the day of the closure announcement, families could be seen entering and exiting the hotel, moving possessions and packages, and going about their daily business. Hotel security would not let the reporter inside to speak with the center’s administrative workers. “They’re not going to talk to you,” one security guard said. On the subject of the closure, all security staff present declined to comment.

The hotel, owned by the Government of Pakistan, was forced to shut down in 2020 during the COVID pandemic. But it received a lifeline in 2022 when the city agreed to pay the Pakistan government $220 million to lease the building over three years.

The 1,000-bed hotel takes up a full city block between 45th and 46th streets and Madison and Vanderbilt avenues. Crain’s New York Business reported the real estate broker JLL had been marketing the property for the past year and that a new owner is expected to make it a tear-down/redevelopment project. SL Green Realty was mentioned as a potential buyer.