More than 3,200 migrants housed in taxpayer-funded shelters were busted — including for violent crimes like assaults — over a nearly two-year span, police data obtained by The Post on Friday reveals.
The new NYPD numbers provide the first data-driven and the most detailed look to date at the effect of the city’s migrant crisis on crime.
It shows that 3,219 migrants living in 48 city shelters across the Big Apple were arrested a total of 4,884 times between Jan. 1, 2023, and Oct. 31, 2024.
The crimes included 1,285 petit larcenies, or minor thefts, 544 assaults and 497 cases for dangerous drugs, the top three on a long list of offenses that also included robberies and sex crimes, according to the data.
Mayhem sparked by the influx of migrants, who began arriving to the city in spring 2022, have grabbed headlines and sparked political outrage.
Those shocking incidents have included the shooting of two NYPD officers in Queens last June, the scuffle between a group of migrants and cops in Times Square in January 2024 — as well as the recent takedown of 27 suspected members of the violent Venezuelan gang Tren De Aragua gaining a foothold in the city.
Just a few months ago, two migrants were cuffed after allegedly attacking a security guard at the troubled Randall’s Island shelter site, which has since closed. And last year, a subway mugging drew harsh rebuke from pols after it was revealed it involved an 11-year-old Venezuelan boy.
But no police data has ever been released previously on how much crime migrants have been responsible for.
The alleged criminal migrants account for just about 4% of the total number of more than 200,000 asylum seekers who have made their way through New York City, according to the statistics.
The numbers show that migrants were arrested on various theft charges more than 1,900 times and nearly 900 for assault.
Migrants were also busted almost 500 times for drugs and 235 times for robbery, the data shows.
Three were charged with murder or manslaughter.
Some 1,049 crimes were committed inside the 48 shelters included in the statistics — though the majority of them were not opened during the full 22-month period encompassed by the data set. About six of them only opened in 2024.
At the peak of the crisis, the city had more than 200 makeshift shelters set up throughout the five boroughs.
The Adams administration has repeatedly raised the issue, but blamed a small number of migrants.
“When the mayor stated that a massive influx of individuals unable to provide for their families would naturally lead to some individuals committing crime, he was wrongly accused of being anti-immigrant,” said Mayor Eric Adams’ press secretary Kayla Mamelak.
“Still, citywide crime continued to decline, and no family with children was forced to sleep on the street.”
