More than 1,000 migrants living in taxpayer-funded upstate New York hotels are being told they must leave by the end of the year as a contract with a housing provider is set to expire, according to reports.
New York City had relocated the migrants to Albany as the city struggled to cater for an unprecedented surge of migrants arriving in the Big Apple under the Biden-Harris administration, but now the migrants have been told they must look elsewhere for accommodation.
In a letter shared with CBS6 Albany, New York City wrote to the migrants staying at hotels like the Holiday Inn Express on Broadway informing them of the decision and offering them free transportation as well as help with their "next steps."
"If you do not have an exit plan by December, the only sheltering option the City of New York can offer will be a temporary placement in New York City. It is important to note that shelter stays in New York City are time-limited (30 or 60 days) and you may not qualify for additional time in shelter," the letter reads.
Migrants will be transferred into state or local housing programs, transported to friends or relatives in New York City or brought back to the city’s arrival center for asylum-seekers, Tommy Meara, a spokesperson for DocGo, the company contracted to house the migrants until Dec. 31, told the Times Union.
The publication reports that New York City Mayor Eric Adams’ office planned to relocate the remaining 1,800 migrants staying in upstate hotels into permanent housing by the end of the year, including through voluntary state-funded programs. In July, the state Office of Temporary and Disability Assistance reported 415 families had been relocated to permanent housing outside of New York City, including 114 in Albany County, per Times Union.
The news comes as Albany County Sheriff Craig Apple says that members of the deadly Tren de Aragua gang have spread to the state capital.
"So I haven't seen like, the actual signs indicating like Tren de Aragua is here," Apple tells CBS6. "I know there's a lot of Venezuelan migrants here. You can see that right up the street, actually, but if anybody thinks that Tren de Aragua is not here, is being misled, there's no doubt they're here."
The bloodthirsty gang has committed crimes in multiple states in the U.S.
New York City’s migrant crisis has put the city’s shelter system and coffers under immense strain, as the sanctuary city continues to spend billions on the fallout from the border crisis.
The city's use of hotels to house migrants will continue despite a significant drop in migrant encounters at the southern border, and the Department of Homeless Services is seeking a contract with hotels to provide a total of 14,000 rooms to shelter migrants, according to the New York Post.
The Post reported that spending on housing over a three-year period will surpass $2.3 billion, with most of that spent on rent for hotels. Spending on the migrant crisis is expected to exceed $5 billion, and Mayor Eric Adams has previously said costs could balloon to over $10 billion by the end of next fiscal year. Previous estimates had put that number even higher.
At an average of $352 per night for at least 36,939 households, the city has previously projected it will spend $4.75 billion providing shelter, food, health care and education to the influx of migrants during the 2025 fiscal year, according to the current forecast by the city’s online asylum seeker funding tracker.
In August, the city announced two new contracts totaling $40 million for contractors to service migrants at hotels used as emergency shelters.
Fox News' Adam Shaw contributed to this report.
