Officials May Close Huge N.Y.C. Migrant Shelter, Fearing Trump Crackdown

New York City officials are drawing up plans to shutter a giant Brooklyn migrant shelter amid concerns that the facility will attract the unwanted attention of the incoming Trump administration.

The shelter, a tent complex housing some 2,000 asylum seekers on a former airplane runway at Floyd Bennett Field in Jamaica Bay, also carries another distinction: It was built on land that the federal government leases to New York City.

That has led to urgent concerns in the administration of Mayor Eric Adams, according to City Hall officials involved in the discussions. City officials fear that President-elect Donald J. Trump could cancel the lease the moment he takes power in January, or dispatch immigration officers to the shelter to round up noncitizens.

The city is scrambling to determine where to potentially relocate the 500 families in the tent complex if officials close it before the inauguration of Mr. Trump, a Republican who has vowed to detain and deport undocumented immigrants en masse.

The internal scramble underscored the extent to which Democratic cities like New York are preparing for a second Trump presidency. The potential closure of the shelter is among the first concrete steps that City Hall is planning to take in advance of the expected immigration crackdown. City officials are also concerned about safeguarding crucial federal funding for housing, health care and education amid concerns that Mr. Trump might seek to curtail financial support for cities.

Mr. Adams, a conservative Democrat, signed the Floyd Bennett Field lease with the Biden administration last year, as city officials were rushing to find space to accommodate an influx of migrants arriving from the southern border.