Hundreds of migrants enter NYC’s Randall’s Island shelter 3 days after opening

New York City’s new relief center on Randall’s Island is already housing 350 migrants since its opening three days ago, Adams administration officials said on Wednesday.

Another shelter at the Creedmoor Psychiatric Center in Queens – which opened less than two weeks ago – is already nearing capacity, with more than 800 people at the site.

City officials say that rate of occupancy is alarming.

“I think New Yorkers are understanding that that’s not sustainable,” said Anne Williams-Isom, the deputy mayor for health and human services, at the city’s weekly migrant briefing on Wednesday. “Even with the good work that we’re doing, I don’t know that we’re really going to be able to keep up.”

Officials said the city's shelter system is currently caring for more than 110,900 people – including more than 59,300 migrants — and it is scrambling to find enough space to house everyone.

The crisis is spurring officials to open more shelters to house the migrants. Gov. Kathy Hochul recently announced that after months of trying, she received federal approval from the White House to use Brooklyn’s Floyd Bennett Field as a shelter.

While that's welcome news for city officials, they continued to paint a bleak picture of the situation on Wednesday. The migrant relief center on Randall’s Island is expected to house up to 3,000 people, while Creedmoor can hold up to 1,000.

Administration officials continued to campaign for more help from the White House, such as more money and temporary work authorizations for the new arrivals.

Adult migrants at the Randall's Island shelter are being paired with case workers who assist them with establishing specific goals, such as reuniting with other relatives in the U.S. or helping family members come to New York City, said Dr. Ted Long, senior vice president at NYC Health + Hospitals.

Officials also discussed the upcoming school year, which set to begin in two weeks, and the thousands of migrant children who will need to be enrolled in classes, though they did not give exact numbers. A representative from the city’s education department is expected to speak at one of the weekly briefings in the coming weeks.

More than 104,400 migrants have come through the city’s intake system since spring 2022. And more than 3,100 new asylum-seekers entered the city’s care in just the last week alone — a number that “might be the most that I’ve seen in the past couple of weeks,” Williams-Isom said.

“People say to me: ‘How can this still be a crisis?’” Williams-Isom said. “And I think it’s only a crisis if it's being led by – and on the backs of a locality, and not state or federal government.”