Averting a Crisis

Last weekend I declared a State of Emergency in Rockland County to prevent the bussing of hundreds of undocumented individuals to a hotel in Orangeburg, NY. I took this unprecedented action to protect these migrants from being used as political pawns yet again and from what could have been a one-way bus ticket to homelessness or worse.

Another part of New York City’s “strategy” to compromise our community by bussing in 340 adult migrant males has been set aside. Our County Health Department shut down the Armoni Inn yesterday and the handful of guests left were in the process of finding alternative accommodations. This action was in direct response to the Armoni Inn operating without a valid permit that had expired and a failure to open records about the proposed shelter for migrants, which is outside the legal scope of a hotel as defined by regulation.

Rockland County, while beautiful, is suburban and does not have the infrastructure to support rapid population growth. We already have a housing crisis with a severe shortage of safe and affordable units. This has led to severe overcrowding as unscrupulous landlords take advantage of both new legal migrants and the undocumented. We saw this situation turn tragic in March when five people, including two children ages 4 and 13, died in a fire in a two-family home in Spring Valley, NY, that 18 people were living in.

Mayor Adams’ plan to send single-adult male asylum seekers to Rockland is fatally flawed. He claims that NYC will support these individuals for four months with food, clothing, medical services, and help securing work permits while they integrate into our community and find housing of their own. Unfortunately, it takes six months minimum, likely longer, for an asylum seeker to receive a work permit. The Mayor is setting these folks up for failure; a failure that will result in their inability to support themselves or find safe housing.

Rockland is not anti-immigrant, but we are struggling with the organic migration of people with direct ties to our community. We stand opposed to the Mayor’s short-sighted plan which will endanger the lives of our residents both current and future.

But despite raising all our concerns, which have also been echoed overwhelmingly by our residents in emails, phone calls and on social media, the City of New York this week was choosing to ignore all of it and still proceed with their plan to move hundreds of migrants here to Orangetown beginning this past Wednesday.

This is a home rule state and New York City does not have the authority over this County or Town to volunteer us for placement, especially when we are telling them we do not have the infrastructure to help.