Gov. Kathy Hochul’s administration and several Hudson Valley communities have declared states of emergency in response to Title 42 ending Thursday, which officials expect to greatly increase the number of asylum seekers and migrants arriving to New York.
However, they’ve taken different approaches to the crisis as they anticipate a surge of people arriving at Manhattan’s Port Authority Bus Terminal, where thousands have already arrived on chartered buses from the U.S.-Mexico border to New York City.
Outside New York City Hall Thursday morning, immigrant advocates blamed Mayor Eric Adams for planning to send hundreds of asylum seekers to Hudson Valley hotels without coordinating with local organizations and governments. In turn, they also said suburban Hudson Valley elected officials used racist and xenophobic language to describe people with a legal right to claim asylum.
“Let’s do the work together, not just them talking nonsense and lying about these vulnerable people,” Nelcy García De León, co-chair of the Rockland County immigrant rights organization, Proyecto Faro, told USA TODAY Network New York.
She was referring to County Executive Ed Day and U.S. Rep. Mike Lawler, two local Republicans who criticized Adams, a Democrat, for the planned move of asylum seekers to the Armoni Inn and Suites in Orangeburg.
Meanwhile, on Thursday, a Rockland judge temporarily blocked the city’s attempt to transport hundreds of migrants to the Armoni hotel. Newburgh, in Orange County, signaled it would sue the city and seek a similar blockage, even as asylum seekers arrived in town.
Communities upstate took swift action Thursday in anticipation of asylum seekers showing up in their areas, even if there seemed to be no plans to that effect. In Oneida County, in Central New York, the county executive on Thursday issued an emergency order that will bar hotels and shelters from accepting immigrants living in the country illegally. Broome County, in the Southern Tier, issued a…
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