Cots for migrants are arranged end to end in rows at the New York City-run migrant respite center called Judo in Astoria, Queens, on Aug. 2, 2023. | Photos by Emily Ngo/POLITICO
NEW YORK — Emergency shelters have popped up around New York City to accommodate some 95,000 migrants who’ve arrived in the five boroughs from the U.S. border with Mexico over the past year. Some 56,000 remain in the city's care.
Zach Iscol, the city’s emergency management commissioner, gave POLITICO an exclusive tour Wednesday night of three of the so-called migrant respite centers.
“It’s been out of public view until now,” Iscol said, nodding to recent news stories showing migrant men sleeping on the sidewalk because the city’s shelter system is full.
Iscol warned the migrant crisis has gotten so dire that asylum-seekers with children could soon be forced to sleep on the street.
Those who’ve secured shelter are sleeping on cots inside in makeshift sites like a shuttered prison in Harlem, a former church in Queens and even a one-time martial arts studio.
The no-frills centers serve meals in small cardboard boxes, have few showering facilities for hundreds of people and a “reconnection room” where migrants can connect with family around the country — and receive a one-way ticket out of New York.
The former St. Margaret Mary church in Astoria, Queens, serves as a New York City-run migrant respite center. Migrants sleep in the chapel and auditorium as well as the classrooms and offices. Islamic prayer rugs line a room at a New York City-run respite center at the former Lincoln Correctional Facility in Harlem. A migrant writes signs in Spanish and English at a New York City-run respite center at the former Lincoln Correctional Facility in Harlem. Boxed meals await migrants at a New York City-run respite center at the former Lincoln Correctional Facility in Harlem. A former fitness center and martial arts studio in Astoria, Queens, is now a New York City-run respite center called Judo. Cots for migrants are arranged end to end in rows at the New York City-run migrant respite center called Judo in Astoria, Queens. A New York City-branded fleece blanket is among the essentials given to migrants at the city-run migrant respite center called Judo in Astoria, Queens. Guidance on meal times is posted in multiple languages at the New York City-run migrant respite center called Judo in Astoria, Queens. Contracted cleaners are on hand at all hours at the New York City-run migrant respite center called Judo in Astoria, Queens. There are three showers for 300 migrants at the site.
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