NEW YORK (1010 WINS) — Mayor Eric Adams announced Saturday plans to open a fifth humanitarian relief center for asylum seekers at the Brooklyn Cruise Terminal in Red Hook.
The new facility will house about 1,000 single men seeking asylum in the U.S. who will move from the Watson Hotel relief center that opened in November.
The Watson facility will be opening to families and children after the men leave.
Like the other relief centers, which are set up in hotels or tent complexes, the terminal facility will offer services like food, medical care, case work, laundry and reconnections for family members.
“With more than 41,000 asylum seekers arriving in New York City since last spring and nearly 28,000 asylum seekers currently in our care, our city is at its breaking point,” said Adams. “We continue to surpass both our moral and legal obligations and meet the needs of people arriving in New York, but as the number of asylum seekers continues to grow, we are in serious need of support from both our state and federal governments.”
Adams did not specify when the terminal will open, but said beds will be available in “coming weeks.”
The city plans to close the new facility in spring ahead of cruise season. There aren’t yet plans for where the people living there will move after the terminal returns to its intended purpose.
Adams floated the idea of housing asylum seekers on cruise ships earlier this week. 1010 WINS reached out to the mayor’s office for clarification on whether any of the residents at the terminal will be housed on cruise ships, but did not receive a response as of the time of publication.
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