Migrant Emergency Orders Are Unconstitutional: Federal Judge

NEW YORK — A federal judge ruled Monday that the States of Emergency declarations by Rockland and Orange counties to prevent New York City from renting rooms there for some of the asylum-seekers who have arrived in the city are unconstitutional.

District Court Judge Nelson S. Roman granted the New York Civil Liberties Union’s motion for preliminary injunction, barring the counties from enforcing their executive orders targeting recently-arrived immigrants.

The court found those orders intentionally discriminate against the plaintiffs and violate their rights to travel freely within New York State. According to the ruling, the emergency orders "expressly" classify persons "based on national origin and alienage" and contemporaneous, comments made by county officials suggest "discriminatory motive."

"Today’s decision sends a loud and clear message not only to Rockland and Orange Counties, but to all of the counties who have issued these discriminatory executive orders: the Constitution does not allow you to build walls around your county limits," Amy Belsher, director of Immigrants’ Rights Litigation at the New York Civil Liberties Union, said. "Instead of playing politics with the lives of some of the most vulnerable, our state must uphold its legacy of being a beacon of refuge and new beginnings."

Rockland County Executive Ed Day said his administration is considering all legal options including an appeal of the decision.

And, he pointed out, while the decision prevents the use of the local Emergency Order unless the decision is reversed, the court’s order has no impact on the existing temporary restraining orders issued by the state court judges and does not allow the city to carry out its plan in Rockland County.

"These people are heading to New York City because it is a Sanctuary City and instead of living up to that declaration of Sanctuary, Mayor Eric Adams and the City is exporting them to neighboring municipalities across the State of New York including Rockland County," Day said.

"Our Local Emergency Order never barred anyone from coming to the County. Many have arrived here over the last year and are becoming a part of the fabric of our County. But, as we described in our March 7th press conference with Congressman Mike Lawler, the resources we have on hand are already at their breaking point from that organic migration. The only thing this County’s order was barring was Mayor Eric Adams from overstepping his authority by luring people out of New York City with predatory marketing and advertising and turning hotels in Rockland into city-run shelters with no regard for law, zoning, or our capacity on hand."

Day alleged city officials had offered "patently false promises of jobs and housing over the long term." He said municipalities should work together but the city had not communicated with him "since this crisis began."

Orange County spokesman Justin Rodriguez issued this statement:

The County disagrees with the ruling by the federal court today that Orange County’s Executive Order preventing hotels in Orange County from accepting NYC’s homeless is unconstitutional. However, the important result of that ruling is that nothing really changes as a practical matter at the present time. The federal court made very clear that it was not disturbing the temporary restraining order that the County obtained against the City of New York preventing the City from sending its homeless to Orange County hotels. The court noted that the County’s allegations that the City’s program of sending its homeless to Orange County is a matter of State law that must be resolved in State court. The County’s temporary restraining order against the City will remain in effect at least until June 21st when the State Supreme Court will issue a ruling on the continuing nature of the restraining order.

In his ruling, Judge Roman said, "Even during oral argument, counsel for the Rockland County Defendant indicated that financial concerns was just one consideration, but concerns regarding 'life, liberty, and property,' was another major concern. When asked what counsel meant by 'life, liberty, and property,' counsel indicated that there would be public safety concerns, and repeated that the having '340 single unemployed men' come in through the program would cause 'mayhem.' No further satisfactory explanation was given by counsel when asked to explain what was meant by 'mayhem' or where the basis for that concern came from. Therefore, based on the record, the Court agrees with Plaintiffs that there is enough on the record and as reflected during the oral argument that invidious, discriminatory concerns was one of the motivating factors for the issuance of the Rockland EO."

More than 30 counties and towns north of New York City issued their own emergency orders barring New York City from housing migrants after Rockland and Orange did.

"There's no automatic effect on those because our challenge was just to the first two," Belsher told Patch Tuesday afternoon. "But the findings apply equally. Hopefully those others will look at how the orders violate people's rights in a number of respects, and voluntarily decide to rescind them."

SEE ALSO:

• Rockland, Orange Face Off With NYCLU In Federal Court Over Migrants
• NYC Plan For Migrants Like 'Human Trafficking' - Rockland County Exec
• State Judge Grants Rockland Restraining Order Over Migrant Plan
• Two Suits Filed To Stop NYC From Housing Migrants In Rockland County
• Hotel In Orangeburg May Reopen For Guests, Not NYC Migrant Program