After Trump’s strictness, the Pakistani hotel was locked in New York

The US has decided to close the shelter built for migrant refugees in the Roosevelt Hotel owned by the Pakistan government. New York City was paying $220 million annually to run this hotel. This step has been taken after a controversy arose over the facility for migrants being used with American taxpayers’ money. The pressure of the pro-Trump MAGA group and the federal government is said to be behind this decision.

Democrat Mayor Eric Adams announced the closure of the hotel. Eric had gone in support of Trump after allegations of corruption leveled by the Joe Biden administration. Migrants were being accommodated in 1,025 rooms at the hotel at a rate of $ 200 per night. The New York administration had signed a three-year, $ 220 million deal with Pakistan International Airlines for this shelter, which began in May 2023.

Protest by MAGA supporters and attack by Trump
Images of migrants camped outside the hotel angered MAGA supporters and some New York residents, with about 4,000 migrants arriving in New York every week in 2023. Trump and his supporters accused the Democrat government of “housing illegal immigrants in luxury hotels.”

Ramaswami has also raised the issue
Trump supporter Vivek Ramaswami has also raised the issue of this Pakistani hotel. In December last year, he wrote on social media, “A hotel owned by a foreign government is sheltering illegal immigrants with the money of American taxpayers. This is madness!”

Trump also recently opposed the US aid of $21 million for a voter turnout program in India. He alleged that the Biden administration paid $59 million to an unidentified hotel in New York to house migrants. Elon Musk claimed that the city administration was “paying double the normal rate for rooms”.

Trump administration freezes $80 million
After Trump’s victory, his new government froze New York City’s $80 million FEMA funding, citing criminal activity at the hotel. Meanwhile, the Pakistan government had already earned millions of dollars from the deal.

The US Department of Homeland Security said FEMA was “funding the Roosevelt Hotel, which became a hideout for the Tren de Aragua gang and was used to shelter the killer of American nursing student Laken Riley”. The Venezuelan criminal gang has now been designated a foreign terrorist organisation.