At least three Western New York counties have declared states of emergency aimed at blocking New York City from sending an overflow of migrants and asylum seekers to area hotels.
Niagara County on Thursday issued an emergency order that prohibits hotel operators from contracting with government entities outside of the county to house or transport migrants or asylum seekers without the approval of the county Legislature.
Orleans and Genesee counties issued similar orders on Wednesday.
New York City is amid a housing crisis, with more than 60,000 migrants arriving within the past year, forcing city officials to look for housing options outside the city, including busing people to hotels in neighboring Rockland and Orange counties.
Niagara County Legislature Majority Leader Randy Bradt said he wanted no part of it.
“New York City decided it would be a sanctuary city and welcome those who entered the country illegally and now that this ill-conceived policy has produced the predictable results, it appears state and city officials are looking to upstate counties to bail them out,” Bradt said in a statement Thursday. “We are not without compassion, but we simply lack the resources to do it.”
Orleans County Legislature Chairwoman Lynne M. Johnson said in an emergency declaration Wednesday that “this situation is a threat to public safety.”
But she said the declaration was not due to concerns about asylum seekers possibly coming upstate.
“We did it because we have no housing availability,” said Johnson. “Our homeless population has increased over 150% since Covid.”
Genesee County Manager Matt Landers said the county isn’t shutting out migrants entirely. Officials don’t want a crush of people to arrive unexpectedly, as has happened in some other counties, he said.
“So, this was kind of a more preemptive role that instead of waiting until potentially a busload shows up that we cannot adequately support in our community to take this step…
Read the full article here
Leave a Reply