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NYPD: Unresponsive 11-year-old boy found at Manhattan migrant shelter pronounced dead
By
Giulia Heyward
Published Dec 12, 2023
Modified Dec 12, 2023
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By
Giulia Heyward
Published Dec 12, 2023
Modified Dec 12, 2023
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An 11-year-old boy was pronounced dead Monday after being found at an Upper West Side hotel that’s currently being used as a migrant shelter, police said.
The child — whose identity has not been released — was found “unconscious and unresponsive” shortly after 5 p.m. in the lobby of the Stratford Arms Hotel at 117 West 70th St. in Manhattan, according to police. He was transported to the Mount Sinai West Hospital, where he was pronounced dead.
An official cause of death has not been released and the authorities said an investigation is underway.
The incident adds more urgency to the city’s migrant crisis as Mayor Eric Adams continues to limit migrants' shelter stays and amid reports of worsening conditions at the facilities the city has put up to house thousands of new arrivals.
Adams on Tuesday confirmed during his weekly City Hall press conference that the child was found “with a shoelace around his throat."
“These are some very scary moments for our children,” he said. “It’s very painful, it hurts a lot. You start to ask: ‘Did we do enough? Should we have done more?’”
City Councilmember Gale Brewer, who represents the district where the shelter is located, told Gothamist the boy is an only child and the city plans to assign social workers to his school.
“Having a child that young, having probably come from a country where they worked really hard for him, and then to have this happen for your only child? There are no words to describe,” she said. Brewer added that she would like to see more mental health resources, housing and legal services for migrants to help them adjust to life in the U.S.
At the press conference, Deputy Mayor for Health and Human Services Anne Williams-Isom pointed to the ongoing pressure city officials are putting on the federal government for more migrant aid. Adams traveled last week to Washington, D.C., to ask the Biden administration for help, but returned with few results.
“This is why it’s so important that the federal government should finish their job,” Williams-Isom said. “We are letting people into this country, they are coming here, and they want to work, they want to get their children settled.”
There are more than 60,000 migrants now in the city’s care, according to recent estimates. Adams recently called for steep budget cuts across city agencies to alleviate the financial strain caused in part by providing shelter and other resources to the new arrivals.
Waves of migrant families are expecting to receive 60-day notices demanding they leave the shelters where they're living — a move advocates say is upending life for migrant children.
This story has been updated with comment from Councilmember Gale Brewer.
Tagged
education
Asylum Seekers
public safety
manhattan
nypd
eric adams
Giulia Heyward
Giulia Heyward is a breaking news reporter on the Day-Of desk. She previously worked at NPR, as a breaking news reporter, and the New York Times, as a reporting fellow on the national desk. Her work has also appeared in CNN, The Atlantic and Politico. Got a tip? Email [email protected] or more securely on signal at 917-715-1458.
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Gothamist is funded by sponsors and member donations
Gothamist is funded by sponsors and member donations
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