A popular hotel in New York City’s Broadway District has been converted into a migrant shelter as the city continues to face an unprecedented influx of migrants from the U.S. border.
The hotel wrote on its Facebook page:
“To our valued guests: it is with great sadness that we announce the Square Hotel will be closed for the foreseeable future. We appreciate your patronage and hope to welcome you back someday soon.”
The hotel, which gained poplualrity for its Japanese restaurant, lobby bar and “sophisticated” decor, is now a shadow of its previous self.
Currently, a National Guard soldier stationed at the lobby’s entrance is turning away tourists seeking a room for the night.
A sign in the lobby also warns that motorbikes chained in front of the hotel will be cut and removed.
Chic hotel in heart of Broadway converted to migrant shelter in latest sign of growing NYC migrant crisis https://t.co/1VEtZBcCSa pic.twitter.com/cQSocxwflb
— New York Post (@nypost) May 5, 2024
The hotel sits just three blocks from the famed Radio City Music Hall and is five minutes from Times Square.
According to Fox News, a hotel reservations agent said bookings were suspended through July and will likely persist beyond that.
The Manhattan Institute’s Nicole Gelinas told The New York Post that “lazy” hotel operators seemingly find it easier to take payments from the government to house migrants than book NYC tourists.
“These hotels could be doing a fine tourist business right now, but they are being lazy, and a sure-thing 100-percent occupancy on the city dime, and without having to provide traditional hotel services, is just too good a deal to pass up,” Gelinas said.
Meanwhile, other critics slammed city officials for turning the district into a migrant ghetto, highlighting Madison Avenue’s Roosevelt Hotel, which was also converted for migrants.
Last November, Mayor Eric Adams warned that illegal immigration is “devastating” the city and will hurt residents.
New York City, a sanctuary jurisdiction that refuses to cooperate with the Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agency, is now “at a breaking point,” Adams said.
More than 160,000 border crossers and illegal aliens have arrived in New York since the spring of 2022.
“We’re at the breaking point,” Adams said.
“There is no more room, over 160‑something thousand, and as I stated, we’re getting anywhere from 2,500 to 4,000 a week … this is devastating for our city.”
READ: Mayor Eric Adams Confronted by Angry Passenger on Plane
