Less than a day after Mayor Eric Adams announced his plan for New York City to relocate illegal migrants to hotels in Rockland and Orange Counties, elected officials in both areas have rejected the idea and declared a state of emergency in response.
“It felt like they were trying to do a Friday night drop,” Orangetown regional supervisor Teresa Kenny told the New York Times. “I feel like the mayor called me to check a box so he couldn’t be criticized for not talking to us,” the administrator added.
A similar note was struck by Ed Day, a Rockland County executive, adding that he was stunned by Adams’s announcement.
“Whatever we need to do to stop this, we will do,” the Republican official told the Times on Sunday in an interview. “They’re basically dumping them into a county where we’re not prepared for them,” he said.
Day even stipulated that Rockland County was prepared to issue thousand-dollar fines for any hotels that accepted migrants attached to the mayor’s program.
Adams’ announcement also drew the condemnation of Representative Mike Lawler (R., N.Y.), whose district includes Rockland County. “Mayor Eric Adams must not send migrants to Rockland County as part of his plan to alleviate the strain New York City is under,” the Border Caucus and House Foreign Affairs Committee member said.
“Rockland County is not a sanctuary county, unlike New York City and its boroughs, and should not bear the costs associated with the Biden administration’s abject failure on border security and immigration policy.”
More than 60,000 asylum seekers have entered New York since last Spring with nearly three-quarters remaining under the care of the city, Fox News reports. Adams has converted over 100 hotels in New York City to serve as emergency shelters in response to the crisis.
The move comes as Title 42, a pandemic-era public-health measure that allows Border Patrol to immediately expel illegal immigrants, is set to expire on Thursday as America braces for a potential influx of illegal migrants.
President Joe Biden dispatched 1,500 soldiers to the Southern border last Tuesday in anticipation of the surge.