For the past two months, Venezuelan migrant Natalie Zulbaran, 26, has called the Stewart Hotel in Midtown Manhattan home. The 850-room hotel near Penn Station, once filled with tourists, has been a migrant shelter since 2023, but it now stands as a stark reminder of the growing uncertainty facing New York’s immigrant and asylum-seeking communities.
President-elect Donald Trump, who will take office in a matter of days, has made cracking down on illegal immigration a priority. During a rally at New York's Madison Square Garden in October, he described the migrants as “savage” criminals and pledged to initiate the largest deportation programme in US history on his first day in the White House.
He has also said he plans to declare a national emergency that would involve military support to remove undocumented migrants, and he has put "sanctuary cities" including New York in the crosshairs.
Ms Zulbaran is unconcerned. “I'm not worried because I understand that [Mr Trump] wants to deport many migrants,” she told The National. “But I think he is thinking about the migrants who are causing harm, about the migrants who are doing wrong. Everyone wants to take care of their country.”
Despite her lack of worry, she is rushing to get her paperwork in order before the inauguration. She said she is comfortable with relocating within the US, saying she and her family have enough savings for the move.
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A mural outside the Sacred Heart Church in El Paso, Texas, where dozens of migrants are seeking shelter. All photos: Jihan Abdalla / The National -
Dhean, 29, shows a picture of his daughter who is still in Venezuela -
Hundreds of migrants queue at a gate along the US-Mexico border, hoping to claim asylum -
Venezuelan migrant Jose, 27, is hoping to go to Chicago to join his girlfriend -
Paolo, 21, on the right, sits with other migrants outside the Sacred Heart Church in El Paso -
Juan Angel Pabon, 52, stands beside a tent in Cuidad Juarez, Mexico, that he shares with his two daughters -
Victor Manuel, 22, left, with other migrants a day after arriving in El Paso -
Venezuelan migrants sit outside the Sacred Heart Church
In the spring of 2022, scores of buses filled with migrants from the southern border arrived in Manhattan in a political manoeuvre by Texas Governor Greg Abbott, who was keen to test New York resolve as a self-proclaimed sanctuary city.
Since then, New York has welcomed more than 200,000 migrants from the southern border, spending more than $5 billion on the nation’s largest migrant shelter system.
To accommodate this new population, the relics of the pre-pandemic era – vacant hotels and unused office spaces – found a new purpose. These symbols of economic despair were swiftly turned into migrant shelters. City parks and even warehouses also evolved into communal housing.
But things are changing. New York Mayor Eric Adams announced last week that the city will close 13 emergency migrant shelters by June. He previously announced that 25 shelter sites would close by March.
The shelter closures come as the number of migrants arriving in New York has declined and the number of asylum seekers being housed by the city is at the lowest level in 18 months.
Jennifer and her family entered the US illegally from Ecuador about 10 months ago. So far, they have not obtained any legal documents to allow them to stay in the US and they face an uncertain future. City regulations typically limit asylum-seeking families to 60-day stays in shelters before they must leave.
“Unfortunately, now I can't do anything. We have been looking for apartments and rooms, but unfortunately, they ask us for many things,” she told The National. “I can't rent anything because they ask me for papers, which I don't have. For me, I am ready to leave.”
More than anything, Jennifer fears being sent back to Ecuador. When asked about her reasons for coming to New York, she replied: "My husband, for helping a friend who was in trouble. They wanted to kill him so we had to leave."
Matthew, an employee at the Stewart Hotel, criticised US government spending.
“You have a lot of American citizens who say look where our taxpayers' money is going … but nobody's looking and seeing the untold billions going to Ukraine just to fight Russia, the untold billions going to Israel … the untold trillions we've spent in the last 25 years and before with genocide all over the world,” he told The National.
“I think it's a shame that it should even be an issue with our government, given the amount of money … they throw around. These people [migrants] are great and they're going to benefit our nation."
