Malliotakis Blasts New York’s Migrant Hotel Spending: What the Official Numbers Show

The New York congresswoman says Hochul and Democrats forced taxpayers to fund hotel rooms for illegal immigrants while thousands of criminal noncitizens committed crimes nationwide. Government records confirm billions in migrant-related spending and tens of thousands of ICE arrests, but several details require context.

Representative Nicole Malliotakis is renewing her criticism of Governor Kathy Hochul and Democratic immigration policies, arguing that New York taxpayers were forced to finance hotel accommodations for migrants while the country faced crimes committed by thousands of illegal immigrants.

In a video posted to her official social-media account, Malliotakis said:

“Never forget that Kathy Hochul and the Democrats made taxpayers foot the bill to house illegal immigrants in luxury hotels, even as thousands of them committed crimes. President Trump & Congress put an end to it.”

Malliotakis is speaking broadly. She presents taxpayer-funded hotel accommodations and crimes committed by criminal noncitizens as two consequences of Democratic immigration policy. She does not specifically claim that thousands of the people arrested by ICE were residents of New York City’s migrant hotels.

Official records support the central elements of her criticism: New York spent billions on migrant shelter and services, hotels were extensively used, ICE recorded tens of thousands of arrests involving noncitizens with convictions or pending charges, and the Trump administration stopped permitting the use of relevant FEMA grants for high-cost hotel accommodations.

New York City Spent More Than $8 Billion

According to the New York City Comptroller’s Office, the city spent:

$1.41 billion on asylum-seeker shelter and services in Fiscal Year 2023;
$3.70 billion in Fiscal Year 2024;
$3.02 billion in Fiscal Year 2025.

That places the three-year total above $8 billion. The expenditures included hotel rooms and other shelter facilities, security, food, medical assistance, staffing and additional services.

New York State taxpayers also financed the response. In May 2023, Governor Hochul’s office announced a $1 billion state commitment that included $741 million for shelter costs.

The Fiscal Year 2025 New York State Executive Budget later placed the state’s total migrant and asylum-seeker commitment at $4.3 billion.

Malliotakis’s assertion that taxpayers funded the migrant response is therefore directly supported by city and state budget records.

Hotels Were a Major Part of the Shelter System

A 2024 analysis by the NYC Comptroller confirms that the city relied heavily on commercial hotels.

As of May 31, 2024, New York City was paying for approximately 54,000 people to stay in hotels, including about 49,460 asylum seekers. The Department of Homeless Services agreement with the Hotel Association of New York City grew to a total contract value of $987 million and provided for as many as 14,000 rooms.

Approximately 9,500 rooms were being used in 119 hotels under the DHS-HANYC agreement. Other city agencies had contracts involving nearly 5,800 additional rooms in 38 hotels.

Were They All “Luxury Hotels”?

The term “luxury NYC hotels” was used by the Trump administration’s Department of Homeland Security. In February 2025, DHS announced the termination of four FEMA employees after payments connected to migrant accommodations in New York hotels.

However, the NYC Comptroller’s findings present a broader picture. The average room rate under the city’s DHS hotel contract was $156 per night in Fiscal Year 2024, which the Comptroller found was generally consistent with market rates for comparable hotels.

When security, food and other services were added, the estimated all-in cost of an emergency DHS hotel shelter was about $332 per day. Subsequent City Council reports placed the average cost across asylum-seeker shelter and services at approximately $370 to $371 per household per day.

Some accommodations were expensive or located in prominent hotels, but “luxury hotels” is a political description rather than the official classification of every property used by the city.

What ICE Records Show About Criminal Noncitizens

Malliotakis’s crime statement is general rather than limited to New York hotel residents. In that broader context, official federal statistics support her point that thousands of criminal noncitizens were present in the country.

ICE’s Fiscal Year 2024 Annual Report states that Enforcement and Removal Operations made 113,431 administrative arrests. Of those arrested, 81,312 had criminal convictions or pending criminal charges. ICE attributed 516,050 charges and convictions to that group.

ICE later reported that noncitizens arrested during the administration’s first 100 days of intensified enforcement had records involving 9,639 assaults, 6,398 DUI or DWI offenses, and 1,479 weapons offenses. Those figures appear in an official ICE enforcement release.

These are nationwide figures. They establish the scale of the criminal-noncitizen enforcement problem, but they do not show that all—or even most—of those individuals were housed in New York City hotels. Malliotakis did not make that narrower claim.

The statistics also combine convictions and pending charges. A pending charge is an allegation that has not yet resulted in a final finding of guilt.

What Trump Changed

Under the Biden administration, FEMA’s Shelter and Services Program reimbursed local governments and organizations for some migrant shelter, food and transportation expenses.

The NYC Comptroller reports that the city received approximately $120 million in FEMA funding before February 4, 2025. FEMA then transferred an additional $80.5 million connected to eligible Shelter and Services Program claims.

After President Trump returned to office, DHS changed that policy. An official DHS review of Secretary Kristi Noem’s first 200 days states that FEMA grant recipients would no longer be permitted to use federal funds to house illegal immigrants in luxury hotels.

Republicans in Congress also pursued the elimination or defunding of the Shelter and Services Program.

This confirms that the Trump administration ended the relevant use of federal FEMA grant money. It does not mean New York was legally prohibited from spending its own city or state funds on shelters and migrant services.

The decline in the shelter population also resulted from a broader change in migration patterns. By September 2025, the number of asylum seekers in city-funded shelters had fallen by nearly 50 percent from its January 2024 peak. The NYC Comptroller’s Office cited major federal policy changes as a significant factor in reducing arrivals.

What Is Confirmed

New York City spent more than $8 billion on asylum-seeker shelter and services during Fiscal Years 2023–2025.
New York State committed billions more to the response under Governor Hochul.
The city placed tens of thousands of asylum seekers in taxpayer-funded hotels.
FEMA reimbursed a portion of eligible shelter expenses.
ICE arrested tens of thousands of noncitizens nationwide who had criminal convictions or pending charges.
The Trump administration stopped allowing the relevant FEMA grants to fund high-cost hotel accommodations for illegal immigrants.

What Requires Context

Not every hotel used by New York City was officially classified as a luxury property.
ICE’s crime and arrest statistics are national and should not be presented as a list of New York hotel residents.
An arrest or pending charge is not the same as a conviction.
Ending FEMA reimbursements did not prohibit New York City or State from using their own money for migrant services.

Editorial Analysis

The central financial criticism made by Malliotakis is well supported. Democratic officials in New York made a deliberate decision to spend billions of taxpayer dollars housing and supporting a large migrant population, with commercial hotels serving as a major component of the emergency shelter system.

Her broader warning about criminal noncitizens is also supported by ICE data showing tens of thousands of arrests involving people with convictions or pending charges. She did not claim that all of those individuals lived in New York hotels; she cited spending and crime as two parts of a larger critique of Democratic immigration policy.

The Trump administration did change federal policy and ended the use of relevant FEMA funding for migrant stays in expensive hotels. But New York’s own spending decisions remain the responsibility of city and state officials.

Public debate should distinguish between three separate questions: whether migrants had a legal right to remain, whether taxpayers should finance their accommodations, and whether any particular individual committed a crime. New York’s financial records answer the spending question. ICE’s records document the criminal-enforcement problem. Individual guilt still requires individual evidence and due process.

Official Sources

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