Activists and several elected officials gathered outside Office of New York Governor Kathy Hochul At the Capitol in Albany on Monday to protest Two hotels housing several hundred migrants were closed In the state capital area.
New York City has a “Right to Shelter” law, which requires the city to provide shelter to anyone who requests it and has no other options.
Protest organizers said they were calling for Hochul's intervention to prevent the evacuation of migrants and provide new government funding to shelter migrants.
Speaking at the protest, Angelica Pérez Delgado, president of the pro-immigrant non-profit Ibero-American Action League, said: “Our need now is to ensure that people in our hotels are not evacuated. We need leadership and money from the government.” Hochul now finances at least six months of housing and related services.
Rosa de la Cruz of the Ibero-American Action League speaks as a coalition of elected officials and members of the public urge New York Governor Kathy Hochul and state lawmakers to provide emergency funding to prevent the eviction of asylum seekers from Albany hotels during a massive rally at the Capitol on December 9, 2024. (Hans Bennink for Fox News Digital)
The migrants in Albany are staying at the Ramada Plaza and Holiday Inn Express hotels, both paid for by the New York City government and scheduled to close this month.
The hundreds in Albany are just a fraction of the 58,000 immigrants sheltered by New York City and the more than 223,000 immigrants who have received taxpayer assistance since 2022.
According to a report issued this year by Office of the Comptroller of the City of New YorkThe city is expected to spend $987 million over two years on contracted hotels for tens of thousands of immigrants. In total, the city is expected to spend more than $12 billion to respond to the influx of migrants through fiscal year 2025.
Since the election President-elect Donald Trump However, last month, the city moved to scale back its shelter program, closing about a dozen shelters by the end of the year.
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New York City Mayor Eric Adams has been behind several moves to clamp down on services for immigrants. (Desk Photography by Michael Appleton)
New York City Mayor Eric Adams He has been behind several moves to clamp down on services for immigrants, saying: “We have been wasting taxpayers' money for too long.”
The city has already closed two hotels that had been turned into migrant shelters: the Merit Hotel in Manhattan and the NJFK Quality Hotel in Queens. Eight more shelters in Dutchess, Erie, Orange and Westchester counties are also scheduled to close by the end of the year.
The protest against the closures was organized by a group called the Columbia County Sanctuary Movement and a coalition of local nonprofits.
One of the protest leaders, Brian McCormack, co-executive director of the Sanctuary Movement of the District of Columbia, said migrant families “should not be forced to give up their jobs or uproot their lives to return to shelters in New York City.”
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Co-executive director of the District of Columbia movement, Brian McCormack, speaks during a rally at the Capitol in Albany, New York, on December 9, 2024. (Hans Bennink for Fox News Digital)
Speaking with Fox News Digital after the march, McCormack said it was important to quickly find shelter for migrants as New York's harsh winter approached. He also said New York City used the crisis and immigrants “as a political football” and “mismanaged the entire process.”
He said immigrants housed in hotels “already have gainful employment and life opportunities here” and were “major contributors to New York's communities, cultures and economies.”
“As someone from upstate New York, I see every day how the immigrant community has impacted our lives as New Yorkers, from the food that is put on our tables to the revitalization of our cities through construction to the care of the sick and elderly around the world,” he said. “The pandemic and even now “So, we hope they can continue to contribute to the culture and economy of the Capital Region and fully integrate into our community.”
However, New York State Assemblyman Matt Slater told Fox News Digital that protesters outside Hochul's office are “out of touch” with New Yorkers' true feelings about the migrant crisis.
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Migrants outside two shelters in Brooklyn, New York, on July 24, 2024. (Spencer Platt/Getty Images)
“New Yorkers got it,” he said. “My constituents are demanding accountability. They want to make sure we live in a country that respects the rule of law and recognizes that illegal immigration is illegal. Hard stop.”
According to A The Siena poll was published this weeka majority of New York voters (54% to 35%) say the state should support rather than oppose the incoming Trump administration's efforts to deport illegal immigrants in the state.
“It's a real concern for my constituents in the Hudson Valley,” Slater said. “If people are protesting the fact that we are finally being realistic about illegal immigration, they should open their doors and welcome these people. By all means, no one is stopping them. But to sit here and say that taxpayers should be at the forefront.” “Billions of dollars to continue incentivizing those who violate our laws is crazy and insane.”
According to a recent Siena poll, a majority of New York voters (54% to 35%) say the state should support rather than oppose the incoming Trump administration's efforts to deport illegal immigrants in the state. (Fatih Aktas/Anadolu via Getty Images/File)
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Slater said that while he is optimistic about the Trump administration cracking down on the border, he said New York state and city governments must do their part.
According to Slater, New York, a sanctuary state, allocated $4.3 billion in taxpayer money in the most recent budget to provide a range of services to immigrants, such as housing, clothing, food and cell phones.
“We cannot continue to allow state government, or city government, to continue to incentivize illegal immigration through the use of taxpayer money,” he said. “It is wrong, and it must end.”
