NEW YORK CITY: Due to criticism that American taxpayers’ money was being utilized to help asylum seekers in PIA-owned Roosevelt Hotel, Mayor announced that it would end $220 million lease agreement with the property.

It may be recalled that during the 2020 pandemic the hotel had to close its gates. That translated into unbearable financial losses. Later, in 2023 it reemerged as Asylum Seeker Arrival Center and the Humanitarian Emergency Response and Relief Center.

New York City Mayor Eric Adams took to the X (Twitter) to proclaim: “Today, we announced we will begin the process of closing down The Roosevelt Hotel’s Asylum Arrival Center and Humanitarian Emergency Response and Relief Center.

“Thanks to the successful strategies we implemented in our city and policies we advocated for nationally, we’ll be closing this site that served new arrivals since the height of this crisis in 2023.

“Our city was receiving 4,000 migrants each week during the height of the crisis, and now we’re down to approximately 350 new arrivals each week. Our administration has skillfully managed this crisis, with over 232,000 migrants coming to our city seeking shelter in the last three years.

“The Roosevelt Hotel was where we processed 75% of those who came into our care, and it was critical to our effective operations. Because of our sound policy decisions and successful emergency response, we’re able to close this site and help even more migrants take the next step in their journeys — while saving taxpayers millions of dollars.”

Newspakistan.tv