New York City’s iconic The Roosevelt Hotel now houses 3,000 asylum seekers, with between 300 and 500 migrants entering the emergency shelter every day to seek help.
The historic hotel, dubbed “the new Ellis Island” by one city official, has become the registration point for migrants arriving by bus after crossing the U.S.-Mexico border in Texas. Many of them have been moved north by Republican governors fed up with what they say are Democrats’ open-gun policies.
Beautifully located between Rockefeller Center and the Chrysler Building, The Roosevelt, which has 1,025 rooms, was purchased in 2000 by Pakistani International Airlines and Prince Faisal bin Khalid bin Abdulaziz Al Saud, who gave up his shares in 2005.
The hotel closed its operations during the pandemic in 2020 and reopened its doors as an emergency shelter and reception point for the more than 116,000 migrants who arrived in just one year. The city currently cares for approximately 60,000 people.
New York City has an obligation to provide shelter to anyone who requests it under the Right to Shelter policy, and the hotel is one of several hotels in Manhattan designated to house migrant families with children who do so autumn to schools in the inner city have started.
The Roosevelt Hotel, dubbed “the new Ellis Island” by one city official, has become home to 3,000 asylum seekers
The Roosevelt, which has 1,025 rooms, was bought in 2000 by Pakistani International Airlines and Prince Faisal bin Khalid bin Abdulaziz Al Saud, who gave up his shares in 2005.
Migrant families are offered everything they need once they reach the shelter’s registration center in the lobby – from health assessments to child supplies.
While desperate Mayor Eric Adams has asked a judge to temporarily suspend the Right to Shelter policy after warning that the situation could devastate the city if he doesn’t get federal help, he has canceled the city’s contract with the more than 100 hotels converted into shelters extended. .
This was supposed to be completed this year, but will now end in August 2026 and cost a total of $1.365 billion – almost five times the original price tag of $237 million.
The local government currently pays about $385 per night per migrant family in need of housing and food. According to Manhattan Borough President Mark Levine, asylum seekers cost the city about $10 million every day. Adams has said the crisis will cost the city $12 billion over three years.
Because so many Muslim families are housed at The Roosevelt, officials have now ensured that all meals offered are halal. Italian food has become the food of choice, CNN reports.
The hotel hosts families from all over the world, but the majority come from Venezuela and say they are fleeing violence, hunger and repression under the socialist regime of Nicolas Maduro.
Asylum seekers are not in the US illegally while they wait for their cases to be heard, which can take years, but they do not have work permits, which has created an intolerable situation.
Last week, the Biden administration approved Temporary Protected Status for Venezuelans, allowing them to work as New York’s mayor requested.
DailyMail.com spoke to a Venezuelan asylum seeker who came to New York from Peru, where he first migrated after leaving the socialist nation.
Jonathan Caro and his partner Yorgelis Almarza, both 29, crossed the dangerous Darien Gap that connects South and Central America before reaching the city. They asked at the hotel for help buying a bus ticket to Utah, where they have family.
Jonathan Caro (pictured) and his partner Yorgelis Almarza, both 29, crossed the dangerous Darien Gap that connects South and Central America before reaching the city
Pakistan International Airlines currently owns The Roosevelt Hotel. CEO Muhammad Amir Hayat is pictured above
New York City’s migrant crisis is expected to cost the city $4.7 billion this year. Above is a list of some of the landmarks that have been converted into emergency shelters as officials struggle to house nearly 60,000 migrants in the city’s care
Caro, who arrived on his own more than a year ago, said they decided to leave the city because it has become saturated with asylum seekers, and they heard that the local government would help them buy the ticket.
However, others told DailyMail.com they decided to board a bus from Texas to New York because of the right to shelter policy.
“Honestly, it’s because of the support they give us… we don’t have any family here,” Melvin Pinto, 30, said. “We don’t lie about the need for asylum, we run from all the craziness in Venezuela, and it’s not just hunger, it’s armed groups and corrupt police… if there’s no way (at home), we just leave.”
According to CNN, about one in four migrants who arrive at The Roosevelt ask for help reaching relatives in other states and leave town immediately.
As asylum seekers continue to arrive in buses from southern border states, Governor Kathy Hochul announced Monday that another 150 troops will join the more than 2,000 troops already helping with the flow of migrants in New York state.
The National Guard will focus exclusively on case management of Venezuelans, who can apply for temporary protected status and then receive a work permit.
Hochul’s move comes as the migrant crisis reaches a boiling point in both NYC and Chicago, as thousands continue to cross the US-Mexico border before heading north to sanctuary cities, where they are entitled to shelter.
Many of the migrants said they chose NYC because of the city’s right to shelter, which Adams is now trying to abolish.
Senior Adams administration official Anne Williams-Isom, the deputy mayor for Health and Human Services, told WNYC last night, “We’ll be back in court next week to really say, ‘I don’t think the right to shelter as it was originally written must be applied to this humanitarian crisis in its current form.’
The city first tried to change the law in May and is engaged in court-ordered negotiations with NY State and the Legal Aid Society, which represents homeless people.
Governor Hochul warned last week that asylum seekers arriving in New York City will not be housed in hotel rooms as in the past.
“We need to make it known that if you come to New York, you won’t have more hotel rooms, we don’t have capacity,” Hochul said on CNN. ‘So we must also make it clear that we have reached the limit: if you are going to leave your country, go somewhere else.’
The Roosevelt Hotel (pictured), the Paul Hotel and the Paramount Hotel are among the places designated for migrant housing in Manhattan
Migrants were seen sleeping outside the Roosevelt Hotel
It’s a stunning reversal from her statements in December 2021, when she pledged to house and protect asylum seekers — before thousands of migrants arrived each month from southern border states. More than 113,000 migrants have arrived in the city since last spring.
“As you know, there is an inscription on the Statue of Liberty. It says: give me your tired, your poor, your huddled masses, longing to be free,” Hochul said earlier. “You are welcome with open arms and we will do our best to keep you safe… Not only will we house you, but we will protect you.”
Meanwhile, Adams said on September 9 that city spending would be cut by 15 percent through next spring to cope with an influx of 116,000 migrants in 2023.
Adams — who is up for re-election in 2025 — told city agencies they would each have to cut spending by 5 percent by November. There will then be another 5 percent cut in January and a final hack in April.
He has warned that the city’s services will be affected by the incredible extra spending in the budget. He has previously stated that the city plans to cut services such as library hours, meals for seniors and free day care for three-year-olds.