The notorious Roosevelt Hotel migrant shelter in Manhattan is expected to close down operations in the coming months, Mayor Eric Adams announced Monday as the number of asylum seekers in the city’s care continues to drop since President Trump took office.
Adams, a Democrat, called the impending closure of the centralized intake center and emergency shelter at the beleaguered Midtown hotel a “milestone” for the Big Apple, which has seen more than 232,000 migrants reach the city since the crisis first began in spring 2022.
Hizzoner, in a video message, credited the winding down of operations at the repurposed site to “the successful strategies we put in place here in New York City and because of policies we advocated for at the border.”
The converted hotel will likely stop being a migrant shelter by June, a source told The Post.
Adams, 64, said the number of arriving migrants entering city care is down to about 350 on average each week – a dramatic decrease from the 4,000 migrants weekly at the height of the crisis.
In the week leading up to Feb. 2, around 200 new migrants required city help while 1,800 migrants left city shelters and in the first week of President Trump’s term in office, around 300 new migrants were registered with the city while 1,800 departed, according to city figures.
In the final weeks of Joe Biden’s presidency, the city averaged 400-500 arrivals weekly, according to officials. Those numbers are a sharp drop from the 700 to 900 migrants who flooded the city each week over the summer.
“While we’re not done caring for those that came into our care, today marks another milestone in demonstrating the immense progress we have achieved in turning the corner on the unprecedented international humanitarian effort,” Adams said in his video announcement.
Migrants still arriving in the Big Apple after operations at the Roosevelt stop will have other locations to register, City Hall said.
The city at one point had about 69,000 migrants in its shelter system dating back to January 2024. There are currently less than 45,000 migrants in city care, according to officials.
The Adams administration said between June of last year and this coming June, a total of 53 migrant shelter sites, including all of the tent cities, are expected to be shuttered.
The Roosevelt Hotel, which has roughly 1,000 rooms, first transformed into a migrant welcoming center and shelter in May 2023 as officials worked to handle the stunning influx of migrants bussed to New York from southern border states.
More than 173,000 migrants signed up at the intake center between May 2023 and this February.
But the iconic hotel has faced a number of problems since its conversion to a migrant shelter, including becoming a breeding ground for gangs, officials and sources previously told The Post last year.
The location also attracted droves of illegal delivery bikes last year which made it difficult for pedestrians to walk.
Some migrants even slept in cars outside the hotel roughly a year ago because of a space crunch, Gothamist previously reported.
Adams’ announcement about the Roosevelt comes after the city filed a lawsuit against the Trump administration to recover $80.5 million in migrant funding previously approved by Congress.
The White House quietly grabbed the money from the city’s coffers last week, leading to the legal action.
Adams has faced allegations he made a deal with the Trump administration in which he would help with the president’s illegal immigration crackdown in exchange for the Department of Justice tossing his federal corruption case.
The mayor and the DOJ have both strenuously denied the accusations.
Adams’ criminal case is expected to be in limbo for several more weeks because a judge said Friday he wants to hear from an independent lawyer before deciding whether to grant the DOJ’s motion to dismiss the case.
Adams has denied all wrongdoing in the criminal case.
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