Randall’s Island HERRC to close next year. Immigration advocates say it was never successful.
New York City officials announced the impending closure of the Randall’s Island Humanitarian Emergency Response and Relief Center (HERRC) next February, which received a mix of praise and criticism. Mayor Eric Adams considered it a success in handling a growing influx of migrants and asylum seekers, while immigration advocates slammed it as a failure.
The center was originally built to house migrants and asylum seekers, as the city saw an influx of thousands of new arrivals in recent years. As of August 2024, more than 210,000 migrants and asylum seekers have come to the city; the influx has eased since President Joe Biden decided to cap the number of asylum migrants earlier this year, after months and years of backlash from New York State and border states. Biden had adamantly advocated for the bipartisan Senate border security bill but it failed to pass with lawmakers twice.
“We’re not out of the woods yet, but make no mistake, thanks in large part to our smart management strategies and successful advocacy, we have turned the corner on this crisis,” Adams said in a statement. “We’re not scrambling every day to open new shelters — we’re talking about closing them. We’re not talking about how much we’re spending — we’re talking about how much we’ve saved. And thanks to today’s announcement, in a few months, we’ll be talking about how much we’re investing in restoring Randall’s Island’s incredible fields and parks for community use.”
Migrants from Latin America, Africa, and Asia first arrived in the city in Spring 2022, sent north from southern border states on buses and planes. This kicked off a flurry of activity from advocate groups and the city, struggling to handle the waves of new people.
Over the last two years, the city purchased tickets to help migrants reach other cities or relatives, built HERRC structures to house people, opened hotels that were still shuttered from the pandemic for families, enrolled their children in schools; and created asylum seeker application help centers to aid people with work authorization, temporary protected status, and asylum.
“Since the spring of 2022, we have had nearly a quarter million people come through our system in New York City,” said Deputy Mayor for Health and Human Services Anne Williams-Isom in a statement. “With 14 straight weeks of lower numbers of new arrivals seeking asylum, we are now able to transition from this large humanitarian relief center, which is a step in the right direction. Thank you to the teams that have been and continue to work as part of our humanitarian response. We look forward to additional steps in this next phase as they are appropriate given the need.”
The “tent city” on Randall’s Island, which held more than 750 cots, was one of the first constructed in 2022. It was initially on Orchard Beach in the Bronx but was relocated after flooding and community pushback. The space was meant mostly for single and married adult asylum seekers. In 2023, the city enacted a controversial shelter limit policy last year. The rule initially focused on evicting adult men and exempted migrant families in shelters, but eventually the 30/60 day eviction notices disrupted migrant students and their families.
The city said it has already begun “gradually reducing the population on-site” on Randall’s Island.
The New York Legal Assistance Group (NYLAG) said that the tent city was “never a humane or effective way” to provide newly arrived migrants with adequate services. From that aspect, they are glad to see it closed.
“Considering thousands of people still need support, we continue to call for the Administration to stop evicting recently arrived immigrants from shelter after 30 and 60 days, as the support they need becomes exponentially less accessible in the face of such instability,” said NYLAG in a statement. “Further, we hope to see the City instead focus meaningful investments on efforts like increasing capacity for expert immigration legal service providers so our new neighbors have a real opportunity to establish their lives here and become part of our communities.”
Murad Awawdeh, president and CEO of the New York Immigration Coalition (NYIC), also welcomed the news of the HERRC’s closure.
“New York should be investing in the future success of everyone who lives in our great city, whether they arrived here 30 days or 30 years ago,” said Awawdeh. “Cramming people into congregate settings in tents — in locations far away from public transportation, grocery stores and jobs — has been a recipe for failure since day one.”
Awawdeh said that he encourages the city to close other “inhumane” HERRCs across the city, and especially at Floyd Bennett Field in Brooklyn, in favor of focusing efforts on safe and dignified shelters.
“Our industries need new workers, our schools need new students, and our culture needs new life,” Awawdeh added. “To move into a future where we can seize on the vast opportunity that asylum seekers present to New York, we call on the Adams administration to expand access to CityFHEPS housing vouchers to low-income New Yorkers regardless of immigration status, invest in legal services to get people on the path to legal status and work authorizations, and end the 30- and 60-day shelter limits.”
Once the site is closed in February, the city said it will invest in restoring impacted athletic fields and parkland on Randall’s Island.
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