Rockland County Executive Ed Day on Friday warned New York City Mayor Eric Adams not to bus migrants here, calling any plan to do so “absurd” and saying the county “will not stand for it.”
Adams’ office confirmed the city will temporarily house asylum seekers at hotels in Rockland and Orange counties due to the huge influx New York City has been struggling to manage. He said they were all single men, and said the placements were the start of a program that the city could expand.
Orangetown Supervisor Teresa Kenny said Friday that Adams had called her that morning to tell her for the first time that the city was considering placing some of the asylum seekers in its care in a hotel in her town.
What are the plans?
Day said the City of New York planned to house about 340 adult men in Armoni Inn and Suites in Orangeburg for four months with plans to secure them work permits to integrate into the community.
Pointing to Adams’ own Road Forward Plan, which calls on a federal government government strategy to prepare for immigrants’ arrival in advance, Day called any NYC scheme to bus immigrants to Rockland “duplicitous.”
‘Influx of migrants’: Day and Lawler say immigrant swell strains Rockland; protesters say they contribute
“This screams out for solutions on the federal level pertaining to our broken immigration system,” said Day, a Republican, citing the Democratic Biden administration.
Day said the city plan included short-term funding and services for individuals, but with no details. No realistic plans had been communicated as to who will house, feed, and support these individuals in the long-term, Day said in a statement.
“Rockland is not immigrant-ready,” said Renold Julien, executive director of Konbit Neg Lakay, a Spring Valley-based nonprofit that has been serving the county’s immigrant population for more than 35 years. It is a struggle to arrange services for immigrants coming to the small county now, Julien said.
Who will pay?
He said there are many questions…
Read the full article here
Leave a Reply