NYC’s migrant shelters face uncertain future under Trump’s deportation plans

Immigration and housing advocates are stepping up calls for Mayor Eric Adams’ administration to expedite the closure of high-profile migrant shelters ahead of President-elect Donald Trump’s inauguration.

They are concerned that immigration officials will raid or stake out the sites in order to round up noncitizens under Trump’s “mass deportation” plan.

A sprawling 2,000-person tent camp at Floyd Bennett Field in southeastern Brooklyn, which is situated on federal park land leased by the city, is of particular concern. Adams administration officials are considering shuttering the site, as first reported by the New York Times, and confirmed by City Hall spokesperson Kayla Mamelak. But no plans have been finalized.

The advocates, including Christine Quinn, president and CEO of shelter provider WIN, are also worried about the city’s more than 200 other emergency migrant shelters, which are segregated from the city’s traditional shelter system.

Advocates worry that highly publicized sites might draw special attention. That includes the roughly 3,000-person migrant shelter in an empty office building in Clinton Hill, Brooklyn, and intake centers at a Midtown hotel and a former East Village Catholic school where migrants seek and reapply for shelter.

“If we have any places that are all migrants, that’s a bad thing,” Quinn said. “Like shooting fish in a barrel.”

Trump’s transition team did not respond to a request for comment.

The Adams administration has already shuttered 11 migrant shelters over the past month and plans to shutter 10 more sites upstate by the end of this month as fewer migrants arrive and seek shelter in New York City.

The closed sites include a warehouse shelter at JFK Airport, while a tent camp on Randall’s Island is set to close in February. That’s as the number of migrants departing shelters outpaces the number of new arrivals, with around 1,300 migrants leaving the shelter system each week compared to roughly 900 newcomers, according to data from the city comptroller’s office.

It remains unclear if the Adams administration will close any additional sites before Trump takes office on Jan. 20. At a press conference on Tuesday, Adams said he won’t finalize his next steps until after he talks to Trump’s chosen “border czar,” Tom Homan.

Immigration advocates have found common ground with lawmakers who have advocated closing large shelters. Rep. Nicole Malliotakis, a Staten Island Republican, and Councilmember Joann Ariola, a Queens Republican, have staunchly opposed the Floyd Bennett Field shelter, citing concerns about spending.

“Turning our federal parks into encampments for unvetted migrants from all over the world is unfair to surrounding communities and the taxpayers who are being forced to foot the bill while our mayor bankrupts our city and slashes services from our citizens,” Malliotakis said in a statement last year, when she announced legislation to prevent migrant housing on federal land.

The city’s sanctuary law, which was passed in 2017 during Trump’s first presidential term, bars the use of city staff and resources for immigration enforcement. And a local law from the same year largely prohibits immigration officers from entering private city property, like shelters, without a warrant.

Republican members of the City Council have introduced a bill to repeal the city’s sanctuary laws, which Adams has expressed support for. Adams has also said he’ll cooperate with Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers to deport noncitizens accused of crimes. Gov. Kathy Hochul said she’ll “be the first to call up ICE” to deport immigrants who break the law.

Councilmember Bob Holden, a Queens Democrat, sent Adams, Hochul, and City Council and state legislative leaders a letter last month, in which he renewed his calls to repeal the city’s sanctuary laws. “Let’s work together to root out criminal illegal aliens, not obstruct federal law enforcement,” he said in the letter.

Advocates fear that ICE agents could station themselves outside shelter sites to detain migrants as they leave. So there’s been a push to integrate shelters for migrants and longtime residents, said Natalia Aristazabal, deputy director of Make the Road New York. “We don’t want any specific location to be a target,” Aristazabal said.

The city plans to phase out all of its emergency migrant shelters and integrate asylum-seekers into the traditional Department of Homeless Services shelter system, Kathryn Kliff, staff attorney at Legal Aid’s Homeless Rights Project, said of her conversation with administration staff.

But Kliff said the city still lacks the capacity to do so — and city officials have said it certainly won’t happen by Trump’s inauguration in January. About 57,000 migrants currently live in city shelters.

“We don’t want to be in a situation where they don’t have enough beds,” Kliff said. “So it’s a balancing act between making sure they have the capacity they need and also keeping people as safe as possible.”

Advocates also say it’s crucial that the city train shelter staffers about city rules around cooperating with immigration officers.

During Trump’s first term, Quinn said immigration officers once tried to enter a WIN shelter in Brooklyn and were turned away after failing to show a warrant. That’s after extensive training of security guards, “the frontline staff,” she said.

In a hearing last month, Chandler Miranda, a mutual aid worker assisting families living at the Floyd Bennett Field shelter, called on the city to dismantle the shelter and prevent it from potentially being used as an immigrant detention facility.

“As a sanctuary city, New York City must stand up to the federal government and anticipate what’s to come,” Miranda said. “The city must take pre-emptive action to prevent our newest neighbors from being detained or from the infrastructure put up by the city being used to detain people in [inhumane] ways.”