12-Block Homeless Encampment Grows on Manhattan's West Side as Homan Warns of ICE 'Surge' in NYC

A dozen blocks, and growing

A homeless encampment on Manhattan's West Side has stretched to roughly 12 blocks, running along 11th Avenue from West 34th Street to West 46th Street near the Intrepid Museum, according to the New York Post. Tents have multiplied over several weeks, according to local workers cited by the Post, with sidewalks increasingly obstructed near the Jacob Javits Center.

Workers in the area describe more than tents. A city parks enforcement officer told the Post people living in the camp have stolen a hose key, a ladder, and other equipment. Local workers said stolen property, including Broadway theater lighting equipment and high-end telescopes, has been openly displayed at the site, the Post reported. A Javits Center maintenance worker said conditions are "getting bad again, very bad."

ZeroHedge reported that one resident was seen tapping into city electrical lines to power a shelter near West 34th Street, and police ordered the person to disconnect. Officers also seized extension cords and power strips from another shelter, according to the same report. Despite that response, there's little indication the enforcement will shrink the camp's footprint.

311 complaints tied to the encampment specifically have risen sharply. City records show 20 of 48 total homeless-related calls from the area this year focused directly on the encampment, compared to just four such calls out of 40 total in all of 2025, according to Matzav.com's reporting on New York Post data.

Mamdani's response

Mayor Zohran Mamdani has said the camp will eventually be cleared, but has not given a firm timeline. "This site has been noticed and it will be cleared," Mamdani told reporters, according to the Post. "As with any site once we notice there is seven days until the point of clearing. Each of those seven days is characterized by outreach from city workers looking to connect those who are present with services."

That seven-day outreach window replaced the encampment sweeps that were standard practice before Mamdani took office. He campaigned on ending those sweeps, and Breitbart notes the revised policy gives homeless-services teams a full week to make contact before any dismantling occurs. Critics near the site say the approach isn't working. "This seven-day stuff, or whatever it is now, is really not working," a security guard identified as "Joe the Dog Man" told Fox News Digital.

Outreach-first policies rest on the idea that clearing tents without offering shelter or services just pushes people a few blocks over, without solving anything. Homeless advocates and city officials in multiple cities have made that argument for years. Whether outreach alone, without enforcement teeth, actually gets people off the street or just buys time while the encampment grows remains to be seen.

Homan says ICE surge is coming

Separately, White House border czar Tom Homan told Fox News' "Fox & Friends Weekend" that federal immigration enforcement is about to intensify in New York City. "It's coming," Homan said, adding that "ICE is operating in New York City today. We're operating across the state today, but there's going to be a surge, and there needs to be a surge."

Homan declined to give specifics, saying he didn't want to tip off groups that might try to interfere with operations.

The comments followed a New York Times interview in which Mamdani said he takes "pride" in the city's sanctuary status and would not have city resources cooperate with federal civil immigration enforcement. "What we are unwilling to do is to participate in civil immigration enforcement with a federal government that has said openly it wants to deport a vast majority of people for crimes that we will never even know," Mamdani said, according to Fox News' account of the interview. Asked whether he had visited the U.S.-Mexico border, Mamdani said no.

Homan rejected the sanctuary framing directly. "Every illegal alien in this nation that's here illegally, [and] crossed the border illegally, which is a crime, needs to be deported," he said. "That's called the rule of law. If he doesn't like it, call your members of Congress, tell them to change the law."

Mamdani's stated concern that federal enforcement could sweep up people for minor or unspecified offenses without local oversight or transparency is a real due-process question raised by sanctuary-city advocates nationally. Whether that justifies blanket non-cooperation with federal enforcement, including in cases involving violent offenders, remains in dispute between City Hall and the White House.

No timeline has been given for either the encampment's clearing or the ICE surge Homan described. Both are open questions heading into the coming weeks: whether Mamdani's outreach-first homelessness policy produces measurable results on West 34th to 46th Streets, and what a federal enforcement "surge" actually looks like on the ground in a city whose mayor has pledged non-cooperation.