NYC adding 2 new intake centers for asylum-seeking migrants in Queens, Brooklyn
New York City's new Humanitarian Emergency Response and Relief Center at the Crowne Plaza JFK Airport in Queens on Tuesday. Credit: ED QUINN
Two more mass intake centers are opening to handle asylum-seeking migrants arriving in New York City, including a hotel near Kennedy Airport, Mayor Eric Adams’ office announced Tuesday as thousands continue to arrive weekly.
The locations — which the Adams administration calls Humanitarian Emergency Response and Relief Centers, or HERRCs — will be at the Crowne Plaza John F. Kennedy Airport hotel in Queens, and 47 Hall St., near the Brooklyn Navy Yard, Adams’ office announced in a news release.
The Kennedy-area hotel will serve about 330 families with children; the one in Brooklyn, 1,400 adults, the release said. The mayor's office did not respond to an inquiry about when these latest HERRCs would open.
“Both humanitarian relief centers will provide a range of services, in addition to ensuring asylum seekers can reach their desired destination, if not New York City,” the release said.
At least 52,000 of the more than 80,000 migrants, mostly from Latin America, who have arrived since spring 2022, are being housed, fed and otherwise cared for by the city. Since the spring, thousands have been bused to the city under programs by border-state governors and at least one mayor to protest the Biden administration’s immigration policies.
The city has opened almost 200 locations to handle the migrant crisis. To handle the influx, the Adams administration has considered several venues — pitching giant beachfront tents, erecting barracks, school gyms, summer camps, cruise ships and hotels. He also has sought, unsuccessfully, to relocate migrants to Long Island and jurisdictions throughout the state.
Adams forecasts the cost to New York City to handle migrants would surpass $4.3 billion by next summer.
The city is under a rare-in-the-world, decades-old judicial mandate to provide shelter to whoever needs. The administration has asked a court to loosen those requirements.
Newsday reported last month most of the migrants were unlikely to qualify for asylum, and a deputy mayor has said very few had filed the paperwork to begin the formal process. An unknown number of migrants are expected to stay in the United States illegally.
Matthew Chayes, a Newsday reporter since 2007, covers New York City.
'I haven't stopped crying' Over the past year, Newsday has followed a pair of migrant families as they navigate new surroundings and an immigration system that has been overwhelmed. NewsdayTV's Ken Buffa reports.
'I haven't stopped crying' Over the past year, Newsday has followed a pair of migrant families as they navigate new surroundings and an immigration system that has been overwhelmed. NewsdayTV's Ken Buffa reports.
