Federal prosecutors in Manhattan have reportedly issued a criminal subpoena to a hotel in Manhattan seeking a full list of names of migrants residing at it and potentially New York government officials.
According to The Guardian, which did not identify the name of the hotel, two prosecutors from the Southern District of New York on Wednesday demanded “a list of full names of aliens currently residing” at the hotel and “entities and/or individuals that are responsible for the funding” of its “illegal immigrant/migrant shelter programs.”
It said it concerned an alleged violation of federal immigration law, the outlet reported.
No city officials were served, according to sources briefed on the matter.
A spokesman for the Manhattan U.S. attorney’s office declined to comment and deferred comment to DOJ headquarters in Washington, D.C., where a spokesman could not be reached.
“We cannot comment on any type of federal investigation,” Liz Garcia, a spokesperson for the mayor, said in a statement.
The subpoena comes as the Trump administration has launched a forceful crackdown on immigration in the U.S., targeting both undocumented immigrants and noncitizens with lawful status. In Albany Wednesday, Trump border czar Tom Homan threatened to double the number of federal immigration agents in New York.
“You’re not gonna stop us, New York State,” Homan said. “You gotta change the sanctuary status. If you don’t, get out of the way.”
Around 1,000 protesters demonstrated outside the federal courthouses in Manhattan earlier Wednesday to protest the detention of Mahmoud Khalil, a Columbia graduate student and green card holder federal immigration authorities and the State Department have accused of being a terrorist sympathizer because of his pro-Palestinian views.
The city is working with several hotels throughout the city to create migrant housing sites following an influx of more than 200,000 people seeking asylum starting in spring 2022.
In an ongoing federal lawsuit in Manhattan, the city has accused the Trump administration of unlawfully clawing back $80 million in grant money awarded under President Biden for providing shelter and services to migrants.
Lawyers for the federal government have claimed, without evidence, that the city had been funding “alien housing” at the Roosevelt Hotel in Midtown that a Venezuelan gang was using as a recruiting center and base of operations. The hotel has been the main arrival center for newly arrived migrants and those seeking new shelter placement since it opened in May 2023.
On Feb. 24, Mayor Adams announced the city would be shuttering the Roosevelt Hotel will be shutting down in the coming months, weeks after Trump’s new leaders of the DOJ asked a judge to dismiss his public corruption case.
This story will be updated.
