New York City Moves to Shut Down a Growing Migrant Encampment

New York City officials began clearing out an encampment of homeless migrants on Randall’s Island on Monday as the city contends with a growing number of migrants sleeping outside.

Dozens of migrants have been sleeping in camping tents, under tarps and on mattresses outside a giant tent dormitory on Randall’s Island, where the city is housing 3,000 migrants. Most are men from West Africa and Latin America who moved outside this summer as Mayor Eric Adams began enforcing stricter rules on the amount of time adult migrants can stay in the shelter system, leading some to be evicted.

On Monday morning, the migrants scrambled to pack their tents and belongings as police officers and city workers scoured the area to collect belongings left behind. Outreach workers from the Department of Homeless Services offered migrants rides to a processing center to apply for a shelter placement, though many were wary after having maxed out their allotted time in the shelter system.

The encampment on Randall’s Island had emerged as a visible symbol of one of the city’s most vexing challenges: a migrant influx that has seen more than 210,000 people arriving from the southern border seeking shelter. Two years into the crisis, the city is still housing nearly 64,000 migrants in hotels, offices and other shelters.

Now, officials are trying to reduce that population without pushing migrants to the streets and escalating quality-of-life concerns among New Yorkers.

The problem also has national implications during an intense election year, though the number of migrants crossing the southern border has plummeted over the last few months. Republicans, including former President Donald J. Trump, have used images of disorder and migrants on the streets of New York and elsewhere to attack Democrats about border security and local safety issues.