New York City is closing several migrant “welcome” centers after Governor Kathy Hochul denied a request to allocate an additional $1 billion in the state budget to cover the costs.
In a statement, Mayor Eric Adams’ administration attributed the facility closures — one in the Bronx, one on the city’s West Side, and one in Times Square — to a lack of new state funding for migrant housing and other costs.
Hochul turned down Adams’ request for an additional $1 billion in the recently signed $253 billion state budget to cover the Big Apple’s migrant costs.
“Unfortunately, the state recently decided not to allocate any new funding to New York City for asylum-seeker-related costs,” a spokesperson for Adams stated. “We are disappointed to have to make the difficult decision to close a resource center that has allowed us to provide assistance on over 109,000 applications.”
According to the Adams administration, New York City has spent an estimated $8 billion on housing and other costs for over 230,000 migrants who arrived in early 2022, with approximately 37,000 still in its care.
However, a Hochul spokesperson defended the decision to reduce funding, citing a drop in the number of migrants arriving in the city as well as an overall drop in border crossings as a result of President Donald Trump’s immigration crackdown.
“The number of weekly migrant arrivals has declined by 95% and the city has more than $2 billion from the state that they have yet to draw from, which is why this year’s budget did not include additional funding,” according to a statement released by the Hochul administration. “The governor will continue partnering with City Hall to address their responsibility to provide shelter to new arrivals.”
The Trump administration announced in April that it would withdraw $188 million in federal grants to New York City to cover migrant costs. The funding included a $59 million grant and $21.5 million for migrant housing awarded during former President Joe Biden’s administration, but the city sued, alleging that the Trump administration “illegally” withdrew the funds.
Adams announced in February that the city would close the Asylum Seeker Arrival Center at New York’s iconic Roosevelt Hotel in midtown Manhattan, which had come under fire from Elon Musk and the Trump administration for housing migrants in “luxury” hotels at taxpayer expense.