NY Counties Declare State of Emergency as Mayor Adams Proposes Housing of Asylum Seekers From the Border

HI INDIA NEWS DESK

NEW YORK, NY- Upstate New York counties are opposing New York City Mayor Eric Adams’ plans to send migrants and asylum seekers to their regions for temporary housing. Orange County Executive Steven M. Neuhaus has issued an executive order prohibiting hotels in the county from accepting asylum seekers. Neuhaus accused Mayor Adams of breaking his promise to send only 60 adult male migrants without informing Orange County officials, and stated that there was no reason to believe that the migrants would leave the county after New York City stops paying for their housing and services. He also warned that a surge of migrants into the county could overwhelm local resources.

Rockland County Executive Ed Day, who joined Neuhaus in a news conference with U.S. Rep Michael Lawler and other officials, stated that the county was not equipped to handle the migrants and called Mayor Adams’ plan to bus them to hotels in Rockland and Orange counties “the same as throwing people out to the middle of the ocean who can’t swim.” Day added that the county would eventually have to assist the migrants, but it would not be able to do so humanely.

Mayor Adams, a Democrat, announced the plan on Friday to bus up to 300 single adult male migrants to the two counties on a voluntary basis. He said the program would help the city handle the more than 37,500 asylum seekers in its care. The end of the pandemic-era policy, Title 42, which allowed the expulsion of many migrants, is expected to result in an increase of migrants seeking asylum across the United States, including New York City. Mayor Adams stated that the migrants sent to Rockland and Orange counties would be provided with meals, counseling, and other services for up to four months.

Mayor Adams has long been critical of the volume of migrants arriving in New York and has accused Texas Governor Greg Abbott and other Republican elected officials of busing migrants to the city. His administration has been using hotels within the city to house some migrants, mainly families with children, but plans to house others at sites such as a cruise ship terminal and a beach parking lot in the Bronx have been cancelled. Texas and other border states have been dealing with historic numbers of illegal border crossings since the start of President Biden’s term.