Blue cities rush to dismantle migrant shelters as Trump inauguration approaches
The border was on the ballot, and it won, along with President-elect Donald Trump.
Now sanctuary cities are scaling back on their migrant shelter systems as proponents of illegal immigration brace for what Trump and his incoming “border czar” Tom Homan have vowed will be a mass deportation operation.
New York City officials have already announced closures of multiple shelters, where they had housed hundreds of migrants, and are expected to scale back more.
The influx of illegals coincided with spikes in robberies and shoplifting in the Big Apple that the NYPD called a “wave of migrant crime.”
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New York City’s sprawling migrant shelter on Randall’s Island, which was designed to house up to 3,000 people, is slated to shut down by February, a couple of weeks after Trump’s inauguration to a second term on Jan. 20, 2025.
According to the New York Post, the city’s wave of new migrant arrivals has “significantly slowed” and more than 170,000 migrants already in the shelter system have since moved on.
City taxpayers were footing a $352 nightly bill per migrant, according to the paper, with just $130 of that going to the hotels for housing. The rest went to costs like social services, food and cleaning.
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Mayor Eric Adams is also putting an end to the city’s debit card program that paid out $3.2 million to 2,600 migrant families, according to Gothamist.
In Chicago, Mayor Brandon Johnson announced plans this week to close multiple shelters by Dec. 1, according to Block Club Chicago. The Windy City’s largest, a temporary shelter housing 1,500 migrants in the Inn of Chicago, shutters Friday.
That comes weeks after the city shut down a “landing zone” for newly arrived illegal immigrants to be sorted into shelters exclusively for migrants.
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“We are shifting to a more cost-effective, equitable and strategic approach that addresses homelessness for all who need support in the city of Chicago,” Johnson said in late October. “This transition is in line with the sharp decline in migration to Chicago and our current budget realities.”
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And in Massachusetts, a state panel is recommending making steep cuts after a study projected it would cost taxpayers there $1 billion to include migrants in the homeless shelter system in 2025, the Boston Herald reported Wednesday.
The state launched a resettlement agency and other programs to help house migrants in September 2023, according to a draft of the state panel’s report. That November, the state’s shelter system reached its capacity amid an influx of migrants.
Fox News’ Michael Dorgan contributed to this report.