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Feds open criminal probe into NYC migrant shelters — demanding staff turns over names of ‘aliens’ housed at hotels
The feds have opened a criminal investigation into New York City’s migrant hotels — demanding Wednesday that staff turn over names of “aliens” housed at shelters, The Post has learned.
At least two hotels in New York City – including the Roosevelt Hotel migrant welcome center and the Hotel Chandler in Midtown – were hit with subpoenas from the Southern District of New York, sources said.
A copy of a subpoena served at Hotel Chandler – and reviewed by The Post – requests testimony and evidence regarding an unspecified “alleged violation” of federal immigration law.
It asks that the hotel cough up a list of “full names of aliens” currently residing at the hotel.
The federal demand also requested the names of entities and individuals responsible for funding and management of immigrant or migrant shelter operations at the hotel, as well as all details of contracts and funding.
The Hotel Chandler has been used as a homeless shelter, but doesn’t house migrants, a source said.
The similarly named Candler Building in Times Square, however, has been used as a migrant shelter, the source said. It was immediately unclear whether it received a subpoena, or if the feds mistakenly issued one to the Chandler.
No city officials, nor New York City government itself, have received subpoenas, insiders said.
“We cannot comment on any type of federal investigation,” said City Hall spokeswoman Liz Garcia.
The full scope of the investigation remained unclear.
The subpoenas were handed down at fraught time for the Big Apple and Mayor Eric Adams amid the ongoing, albeit fading, migrant crisis.
More than 230,000 asylum seekers reached the city since the crisis erupted nearly three years ago – a staggering influx that prompted Adams and city officials to end up spending roughly $7 billion to house, feed and otherwise for the migrants.
Adams recently announced that the Roosevelt Hotel intake center – which once received 4,000 migrants a week – will close in the coming months as arrivals slowed to a relative trickle.
The mayor in recent weeks has faced accusations that he entered into a “quid pro quo” with President Trump’s Department of Justice in which the feds would drop his corruption case in exchange for help with an immigration crackdown in the Big Apple.
Amid many New Yorkers’ concerns about Trump’s crackdown – and Adams’ potential cooperation with it – immigration agents detained anti-Israel Columbia University rabble-rouser Mahmoud Khalil, a US permanent resident.
Khalil’s arrest sparked fears on the left that the Trump administration is infringing on free speech.
A rep for the Manhattan US Attorney’s Office, whose prosecutors issued the hotel subpoena, referred The Post to the main Department of Justice branch, which said it does not comment on ongoing investigations.
No one answered at the Roosevelt Hotel when The Post reached out for comment.
Representatives at the Chandler couldn’t be reached for comment.
The Guardian first reported a subpoena issued to an unnamed Manhattan hotel.
— Additional reporting by Ben Kochman
