Taxpayers in New York City are set to shell out more than $1 billion to pay for asylum seekers and other illegal immigrants to be housed at inns, motels or hotels throughout the city.
The New York Post published a report recently that said of the 193 shelters currently housing illegal border crossers, roughly 153 of them are inns, motels or hotels. There are roughly 65,300 people who are living at these facilities, as well.
A major concern for taxpayers, of course, is the fact that the average cost for each of these rooms sits at $156 every night. The Post wrote that at some of these facilities, the per-night cost of a room is as much as $300.
The Post further reported that New York City residents have shelled out $4.88 billion collectively on illegal immigrants. Of that total, nearly $2 billion has been spent just on housing.
There are many city hotel chains that have reported that they have a lucrative contract with the city for this purpose. Row NYC hotel, for instance, receives $5.13 million every month.
The Crowne Plaza JFK, located in Queens, receives $2 million every month in exchange for housing illegal immigrants across the 335 rooms it has.
Many locals who The Post spoke to for their story were not happy that all this money was being spent to house illegal immigrants this way.
But, it’s not just residents and business owners who aren’t happy. Councilwoman Joann Ariola questioned why all these taxpayer funds were being used to house migrants.
As she said:
“These locations were meant to boost the economy of this city, but instead they’ve become a net drain and are costing us enormously.”
In January of this year, New York City Mayor Eric Adams, a Democrat, signed off on an emergency $76.69 million contract with the Hotel Association of New York. That was to provide what The Post reported was to be “last resort” shelters for illegal immigrants, asylum seekers and their families.
Under the contract, 15 hotels in the Bronx, Queens and Brooklyn were to provide access to blocks of rooms to migrants who were seeking asylum for as many as 28 days. It was set up under a “vouchering program” that was set to originally last only through this month.
However, in the middle of March, Adams issued a new decree that restricted the access migrants had to shelters. Under that new order, migrants would only be allowed to stay in shelters for 30 days, after which time they’d have to leave and wouldn’t be able to re-apply.
There were exemptions that were put in place for any individual who had a medical condition or another “extenuating circumstance,” the mayor’s release said at the time.
Yet, while this is all going on, New York City — like many other liberal-led cities throughout the country — is struggling mightily with how to deal with the huge influx of illegal immigrants to their regions.
And taxpayers are footing quite the hefty bill as a result.
