On Nov. 29, New York City officials announced the opening of a new mega shelter in Midtown that can house some 600 migrants from the southern border.
The facility is located at the Stewart Hotel on Seventh Avenue and will be operated by the city’s Health and Hospitals Corporation and Office of Emergency Management.
The Department of Homeless Services had already been operating a 300-room shelter and migrant welcome center in the hotel. The new arrangements are scheduled to commence between Dec. 5 and 11, according to an internal email obtained by the NY Post.
Migrants currently housed in the facility will be provided a choice either to remain at the hotel or to relocate to a new shelter run by the Department of Homeless Services.
The new facility will be the fourth mega shelter opened inside the hotel which has been used to house recent arrivals to the city from the southern border, many of whom say they are seeking refugee status after fleeing violence and persecution in Venezuela.
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The three other emergency sites are located at The Row NYC, the Watson and the Wolcott hotels.
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NYC under a state of emergency
The new facility was opened following the declaration of a state of emergency by New York City Mayor, Eric Adams, on Oct. 7 this year.
Adam’s argues that the city requires emergency funding in order to provide shelter to migrants and others experiencing homelessness.
According to prepared remarks published on Oct. 7 by the Mayor’s office New York City “now has more than 61,000 people” in its shelter system including “thousands of New Yorkers experiencing homelessness and thousands of asylum seekers who have been bused in over the past few months from other parts of the country.”
The Mayor’s office says that almost 20,000 children are included in these numbers, or roughly one in five asylum seekers.
“This is a humanitarian crisis that started with violence and instability in South America and is being accelerated by American political dynamics. Thousands of asylum seekers have been bused into New York City and simply dropped off, without notice, coordination, or care — and more are arriving every day,” Adam’s said per the remarks.
Adam’s and Texas Gov. Greg Abbot have openly feuded over the busing of migrants to the city from the southern border.
According to the Texas Tribune, Abbot has spent an estimated $14 million sending more than 10,000 migrants to various cities across the country including Washington D.C., New York and Chicago, self-proclaimed sanctuary cities.
Washington’s mayor, Muriel bowser, has also declared a public health emergency over the arriving migrants.
The city of El Paso, a busy hub for illegal migration, has also chartered buses to New York and Chicago prompting Mayor Adams to ask El Paso’s leaders to halt the buses.
