Ramaswamy shreds NYC $220M migrant hotel deal paying Pakistan 'to house illegals in our own country'
DOGE leader Vivek Ramaswamy torches NYC over Roosevelt Hotel migrant deal
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Vivek Ramaswamy eviscerated a reported agreement that New York City would pay up to $220 million to a Pakistani-owned hotel in Manhattan to house illegal migrants.
"A taxpayer-funded hotel for illegal migrants is owned by the Pakistani government, which means NYC taxpayers are effectively paying a foreign government to house illegals in our own country. This is nuts," Ramaswamy wrote on X.
Ramaswamy, a former Republican presidential candidate, was tapped by President-elect Trump to co-lead the newly-established Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) with Elon Musk. He responded to a post by former investment banker and author John LeFevre decrying the deal regarding the Roosevelt Hotel in Manhattan.
LeFevre shared a screenshot from a June 2023 article in the Indian Times that quotes then-Pakistani Minister of Railways Khawaja Saad Rafique as announcing that the agreement was expected to generate revenues of up to $220 million USD "for the Pakistani government."
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Vivek Ramaswamy speaks at a campaign rally for Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump at Mullett Arena on Oct. 24, 2024, in Tempe, Arizona. (Anna Moneymaker / Getty Images)
Fox News Digital reached out to the New York City Mayor's Office for comment, but they did not immediately respond.
The Roosevelt Hotel, a prominent New York City landmark since 1924, named after former President Theodore Roosevelt, is owned by the state-run Pakistan International Airlines.
Pakistan International Airlines leased the hotel in 1979 and purchased it two decades later, according to the Times.
Migrants are seen sleeping outside the Roosevelt Hotel in Midtown Manhattan on July 31, 2023. (Luiz C. Ribeiro/New York Daily News/Tribune News Service via / Getty Images)
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The property was closed in 2020 amid the COVID-19 pandemic. Under the agreement, the New York City government leased 1,250 rooms – the full occupancy – to house migrants, and Rafique said "the hotel will be returned to the government of Pakistan once the three-year lease term expires."
The Times said the deal came as part of the Pakistani government's larger efforts to revive its flailing economy.
Recently arrived migrants congregate outside the Roosevelt Hotel in Manhattan on Sept. 28, 2023. (Spencer Platt / Getty Images)
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"The city of New York pays $220 million to rent the entire Roosevelt Hotel in Manhattan to house illegal migrants. The hotel is owned by the government of Pakistan, and the deal was part of a $1.1 billion IMF [International Monetary Fund] bailout package to help Pakistan avoid defaulting on their international debt," LeFevre wrote on X, reacting to the article. "Prior to this sweetheart deal, the hotel had been closed since 2020, having long-struggled with occupancy and in dire need of renovation."