Refugees: there, here / then, now

Trump strong-arms NYC to name names

Top: Civilians seek refuge in a church in San Salvador, 1989, after the Salvadoran regime—backed and funded by the US—threatened or destroyed their homes.

Below: In 2024, immigrants and refugees wait in line outside the Roosevelt Hotel, which served as a migrant shelter and arrival center in downtown Manhattan. The facility had processed 173,000 migrants since May 2023, but was closed down by order of NYC Mayor Eric Adams in February 2025. That shuttering came after Adams surrendered his balls, spine, and residual integrity to Trump in exchange for the Trump-controlled DOJ’s dismissal of a public corruption case against the mayor.

On March 12, The Guardian reported that federal prosecutors had issued a criminal subpoena ordering an unnamed New York City hotel that is sheltering asylum seekers to provide:

• “a list of full names of aliens currently residing” at the hotel;

• “any corresponding identifying information,” including dates of birth, nationality and identification numbers; and

• the names of “entities and/or individuals that are responsible for the funding” of its “illegal immigrant/migrant shelter programs.”