NYC Removing Migrants from Long-Term Shelters to Free Space for New Arrivals
New York City is reportedly removing illegal immigrants who have been residing in long-term shelters to make room for new arrivals expected to surge to the Big Apple this summer.
The Department of Homeless Services (DHS) began distributing instructions to family shelters, “which they cannot refuse,” according to Fox News, requiring migrants to pack their belongings and leave the premises.
Neha Sharma, a spokesperson for the DHS, said that the department is “collaborating with the other agencies involved in the asylum seeker response to expand and strengthen those specialized services, and co-locating families is essential to ensure they have access.”
“We [are]… calling on the federal government to provide critical funding for asylum seekers instead of finding ways to mis-portray the city’s efforts to ensure we are delivering for all New Yorkers in need,” the spokesperson added.
Win, one of the largest providers of family shelters in the city was just one of several facilities reportedly sent a list of illegal immigrants that the city determined must be evicted within a “short time frame.”
The shelter services provider claimed it cannot refuse the city’s orders, but stated, “Win stands firmly against shelter transfers, a cruel and senseless policy that the Department of Homeless Services must end immediately.”
“Shelter evictions only destabilize families — particularly children — who are trying to finish the end of the school year in the communities they’ve come to know and trust,” Win added in a statement provided to Fox News Digital. “We stand with our neighbors, elected officials, and most importantly, those who call our shelters home to put an end to these transfers immediately.”
Win’s president and CEO, Christine Quinn, said that the city “wanted to have units specifically for migrants,” adding that authorities were “planning for a summer surge in arrivals” necessitating the evictions at certain shelter locations.
“We were obviously very concerned about this … It would be incredibly upending,” Quinn told Fox. “I don’t see this stopping,” she added.
Some migrants said they were given just 24 hours to collect their belongings after receiving the eviction notice.
Illegal immigrants have been given shelter in upscale Manhattan hotels, in public school gymnasiums, and in massive “tent cities” located at Floyd Bennett Field, Creedmoor Psychiatric Center, and on the grounds of Kennedy Airport, according to the New York Post.
New York City spends an average of $388 to care for each migrant household living illegally in the U.S. but receiving shelter and food services from local and state governments. New York City Mayor Eric Adams speculated that the city will spend $10 billion in taxpayer funds to house and care for immigrants by 2025. The city has already spent $2.4 billion since July 2022 on managing the immigration crisis, on top of the $1.9 billion already allocated by the state in fiscal year 2024. In 2025, the state vowed to contribute an additional $2.4 billion to care for the migrants who travel to New York.
