NYC works to house migrants after Title 42 expiration

NEW YORK - On Saturday more buses with asylum seekers pulled into the Port Authority Bus terminal days after Title 42 expired. 

The city is scrambling to find them housing. According to the mayor’s office, just this past week alone more than 4,200 asylum seekers arrived in the city.

Title 42 was the name of an emergency health authority. It was a holdover from President Donald Trump’s administration and began in March 2020. The authority allowed U.S. officials to turn away migrants who came to the U.S.-Mexico border on the grounds of preventing the spread of COVID-19.

RELATED: Title 42 ends: Here's what it did, and how US immigration policy is changing

The Roosevelt Hotel in midtown, which has been closed for nearly three years, will now be converted into the latest Humanitarian Emergency Response and Relief Center. It will not only house migrants, but it will also be used as a resource site.

Beginning later this week, The Roosevelt Hotel will open up 175 rooms for children and families, until it is scaled to approximately 850 rooms. An additional 100 to 150 rooms will be held for asylum seekers in transition to other locations.

"With the opening of yet another humanitarian relief center, we continue to ask for our federal and state partners for a real decompression strategy and hope to open and operate temporary shelters across the state and nation, as New York City has reached its capacity," said Mayor Adams. 

"New York City has now cared for more than 65,000 asylum seekers — already opening up over 140 emergency shelters and eight large-scale humanitarian relief centers in addition to this one to manage this national crisis. While this new arrival center and humanitarian relief center will create hundreds of good-paying, union jobs and provide the infrastructure to help asylum seekers reach their final destination, without federal or state assistance, we will be unable to continue treating new arrivals and those already here with the dignity and care that they deserve."

FOX5 has also learned schools will now be used as temporary shelters. 

The gym at PS188 in Coney Island, will be one of the sites. We are told it's a standalone gym, school activities will not be impacted, and there will be security.

RELATED: Border appears calm after lifting of pandemic-related asylum bans

Staten Island will also be getting hundreds of asylum seekers. According to Republican Assemblyman Sam Pirozzolo cots are already set up at the vacant Richard Hungerford school on Tompkins Ave. 

"There are 70 cots in the gymnasium. If you go up to the second story, the second floor, there are classrooms. They're just tossing out all the furniture in their classrooms that they're putting in more cots. The one classroom I have pictures of has about 19 cots in it and they said they're going to be preparing for 300. They could go as high as 500, but I don't know what's going to happen," said Pirozzolo.

Pirozzolo says he was notified by the mayor’s office Friday evening that up to 300 single migrants will be occupying the school, he says he got very little information.

"They couldn't define single individuals as being male, female. Now, I think this morning I got another text update, and I did ask for a phone call back. I have not received that. But now they could be single male, single female, or mixed families. I have no idea what's going on," he said. "I mean, it's really ridiculous. This is a problem that's been it's a self-inflicted problem by the Biden administration, compounded by that of the Adams and de Blasio administrations."

In a statement a City Hall spokesperson tell Fox 5 "As we’ve been saying for months, we are in the midst of a humanitarian crisis, having opened more than 140 emergency sites and eight large-scale humanitarian relief centers to serve over 65,000 asylum seekers. We received more than 4,200 asylum seekers this past week alone and continue to receive hundreds of asylum seekers every day. We are opening emergency shelters and respite centers daily, but we are out of space. We will continue to communicate with local elected officials as we open more emergency sites."

The Associated Press contributed to this report.