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NYC Mayor Adams sleeps in migrant shelter on coldest night of the year 

Adams said he chose the coldest night of the year on purpose to spend the night at the shelter to show everyone how warm and welcoming the facility is

NYC Mayor Eric Adams
NYC Mayor Eric Adams | Shutterstock

February 6, 2023 6:14am

Updated: February 6, 2023 6:14am

New York City Mayor Eric Adams slept in one of the city’s migrant facilities this weekend on the coldest night of the year to promote the city’s recently opened shelter.

The mayor shared a video and pictures of him at the facility, including the cot where he slept and his interaction with the migrants. 

"Spent the coldest night of the year at Brooklyn Cruise Terminal with ‘Homeless Hero’ and advocate Shams DaBaron & @AMEddieGibbs," Adams posted to Twitter on Saturday. "Our brothers are being kept warm and the team working here is giving new meaning to the words 'love thy neighbor.”

Adams said he chose the coldest night of the year on purpose to spend the night at the shelter to show everyone how warm and welcoming the facility is. Throughout the night, temperatures in the city reached a low of 12 degrees. 

"What we saw is what we have seen since the beginning of this crisis: individuals who are grateful to the greatest city in the world for providing them the opportunity to work toward the American Dream. I'd like to be clear that the facilities at the Brooklyn Cruise Terminal are providing the same services to asylum seekers as every other humanitarian relief center in the city, and the team at the terminal is giving new meaning to the words ‘love thy neighbor,’" Adams said. 

Last month, a group of around 50 migrants that were temporarily housed at a hotel in Midtown Manhattan refused to relocate to the newly opened migrant shelter in Brooklyn’s ferry terminal. The standoff ended when New York Police Department cleared the migrants from the area.  

The Brooklyn Cruise Terminal is meant to house, and provide food, medical care, and other services for 1,000 single men until the spring, the mayor’s office said in a press release. 

More than 42,000 asylum seekers have arrived in New York City since the spring and more than 28,000 of them are being sheltered by the city. So far, the city has set up five “Humanitarian Emergency Response and Relief” centers and has been using around 77 hotels as emergency shelters to help house the incoming migrants.