New York City Mayor Eric Adams is sending migrants from the sanctuary city to a hotel in the suburbs of Rockland County, New York — a move the top county official says the community is “not equipped to handle” and an “unfortunate passing of the buck by, first, the federal government, and now NYC.”
“NYC Eric Adams called me earlier today to notify me of plans to house migrants at a hotel in Orangetown, which I later learned was the Armoni Inn located in Orangeburg,” said County Supervisor Teresa Kenny in a Facebook post.
“I agree that this calls for a Federal, not a local solution… to send these people to a location that is not equipped to meet their needs, is a betrayal of that often-expressed desire by NYC to be a sanctuary for them.”
Adams claims that Republican Texas Gov. Greg Abbott has sent over 57,000 migrants to the Democrat-run sanctuary city since last fall. Now, the mayor appears to have relocated some migrants to areas surrounding the Big Apple to off-set the costs of caring for migrants — which he claims could climb to $4 billion through fiscal year 2024.
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Adams announced a plan Friday top provide temporary housing at two hotels in Orange Lake and Orangeburg for as many as 300 single-adult men seeking asylum.
The Armoni Inn in Rockland County is already prepping for the arrival of migrants. More than a dozen mattresses have been dropped off at the hotel where single adults allegedly will be staying, photos obtained by Fox News Digital appear to show.
“Mayor Eric Adams must not send migrants to Rockland County as part of his plan to alleviate the strain New York City is under,” said Rep. Mike Lawler, R-N.Y. “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.”
Lawler, who is a member of the Border Caucus and the House Foreign Affairs Committee, represents Rockland County. He said that his district already has “a real strain on food banks, shelters, and our non-profits” and that this influx “may send them under.”
“While I have long agreed with Mayor Adams about the need for more federal aid to accommodate the migrant crisis in New York City, I am fundamentally opposed to shifting that crisis to other communities that are not prepared to handle that influx,” Lawler told Fox News Digital.
The mayor’s office said that the hotels will help free additional space in New York City for the hundreds of asylum seekers continuing to arrive in the five boroughs every day, noting that Title 42 is lifting and that there is expected to be an even larger influx of arrivals after May 11.
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Since last spring, more than 60,800 asylum seekers have come through New York City and there are currently over 37,500 asylum seekers in the city’s care.
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In addition, since the humanitarian crisis began, the city has opened 122 hotels as emergency shelters and eight as humanitarian relief centers.
Adams, in a statement, once again called for state and federal assistance, including financial aid, a national decompression strategy, expedited work authorization and real immigration reform.
“Despite calling on the federal government for a national decompression strategy since last year, and for a decompression strategy across the state, New York City has been left without the necessary support to manage this crisis. With a vacuum of leadership, we are now being forced to undertake our own decompression strategy,” Adams said in a statement.
He said the program would help people to build a stable life in New York.
“New York City continues to step up and handle this crisis, and this new program is an extension of our compassionate response, but these actions do not mean we still don’t need urgent action, including a national decompression strategy, financial resources, expedited work authorization and real immigration reform from Congress,” Adams added.
The mayor has faced criticism for the move already, with Republican officials saying the region lacks necessary services for the asylum seekers and advocates for the migrants calling it a “temporary fix.”
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
