Mayor Adams Announces Placement of new Humanitarian Emergency Response and Relief Center to Continue to Respond to Asylum Seeker Influx

February 15, 2023

Queens Hotel Will Open to Assist Families With Children

New York City Continues to Handle Unprecedented Number of Asylum Seekers Arriving, More Than Any Other City

NEW YORK – New York City Mayor Eric Adams today announced the city will soon open a seventh Humanitarian Emergency Response and Relief Center at the Wingate by Wyndham hotel in Long Island City, Queens, to temporarily serve the continued influx of asylum seekers arriving in New York City. As the estimated number of asylum seekers that have arrived in the city since last spring surpasses 45,600, this humanitarian relief center will provide 144 rooms to assist families with children and provide them with a range of services, in addition to ensuring they can reach their final desired destination if it is not New York City.

“New York City is caring for more asylum seekers than any other city in the United States,” said Mayor Adams. “As the number of asylum seekers who have moved through our intake process in the last 10 months has now surpassed the total number of people who were in the city’s shelter system when I took office, it’s clear that New York City is in dire need of more support from our federal partners. We continue to provide more support to arriving asylum seekers than any other city in the nation, treating people with care and compassion, and this seventh humanitarian relief center will help us continue to do that work.”

“The opening of this new humanitarian relief center in Queens designed to serve families with children demonstrates the administration’s continued commitment to meeting the need of this ongoing crisis,” said Deputy Mayor for Health and Human Services Anne Williams-Isom. “We continue to provide services with care, dignity, and respect for all people coming to New York City to seek asylum or moving through to their final destination.”

“We are once again meeting the challenge to provide resources and aid to all those in our care, but let me be clear: New York should not have to bear the cost of these efforts alone,” said Deputy Mayor for Public Safety Philip Banks III. “As the mayor has said, this is a national crisis, and it requires a coordinated, national response.”

“New York City will continue to step up to meet the demands of this national humanitarian crisis and provide safe haven for those seeking asylum in our country,” said Ted Long, MD, MHS, senior vice president, ambulatory care and population health, NYC Health + Hospitals. “This seventh humanitarian relief center in Queens builds upon the successful models for families with children established at the Row NYC, the Stewart Hotel, and The Watson Hotel, offering services tailored to their needs, such as childhood vaccinations, school enrollment, and reconnections to complete their journeys. I am proud to be a part of the Adams administration’s efforts to help asylum seekers find a better life.”

“New York City is a beacon of hope to anyone searching for better opportunities for their families, particularly those escaping war, persecution, and political oppression,” said New York City Emergency Management Commissioner Zach Iscol. “With the opening of the latest humanitarian relief center for families in Long Island City, New York City and Mayor Adams are ensuring that these new families receive the help they need as they pursue their dreams.”

Since this humanitarian crisis began, the city has taken fast and urgent action, managing the arrival of a rapidly increasing number of asylum seekers arriving in the city with virtually no coordination from states sending them — opening 85 hotels as emergency shelters and six other humanitarian relief centers already, standing up navigation centers to connect asylum seekers with critical resources, enrolling children in public schools through Project Open Arms, organizing nonprofit groups to provide additional support, and more.

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