NYC Plan For Migrants Like 'Human Trafficking' - Rockland County Exec

NEW CITY, NY — Rockland County Executive Ed Day said New York Mayor Eric Adams' plan to temporarily house hundreds of asylum seekers in a hotel in Orangetown was "more akin to human trafficking" than a program to house and support them while relieving pressure on New York City's immigrant programs.

And, he said, NYC officials are looking to expand this program, which would mean migrant shelters across the Hudson Valley and Long Island.

He held a news conference Monday morning to explain the county's declared State of Emergency and subsequent order forbidding migrant shelters.

The State of Emergency proclamation says, in part, "This State of Emergency prohibits other municipalities from bringing and housing people in the County and prohibits hotels and motels from housing immigrants without a license and requires any municipalities that might bring migrating or asylum-seeking people into Rockland County to ensure they will be fully cared for and paid for."

It will remain in effect for 30 days at which time it may be extended, Day said.

Addressing Adams directly at the outset, Day said, "Rockland is not going to stand idly by while your administration, which boasts itself as a Sanctuary City, diverts busloads of undocumented individuals to our county."

He also said city officials were lying about giving advance notice.

Joining Day at the news conference were federal, state and local politicians and officials and representatives of local nonprofits.

Orangetown Town Supervisor Teresa Kenny said she received a phone call from Adams at 11 a.m. Friday and he was vague about if or when it would happen — and then Friday afternoon she received photos of hundreds of beds outside the hotel.

Kenny said the hotel that had agreed to take the men was inspected Sunday and served with a notice that they were in violation of their certificate of occupancy, which prohibits transients from stays of more than 30 days.

"What our fire inspector and assistant building inspector found were piles of shirts that said 'social worker' and 'supervisor' and a room full of medical supplies. This is going to be a New York City-run shelter in the town of Orangetown," she said. "Our town code does not allow that."

"The town is prepared to commence legal action," she said. "Yes, my residents are concerned. Rightfully so."

The city's plan was to house, feed and provide services to about 300 single men who volunteered to be housed out of NYC for four months.

"That's five times the homeless population we have," Day said.

Undocumented people in Rockland are generally with family, friends, a support network — and still they need services from nonprofit charities, he said.

Also, the county issued an order under its State of Emergency announcing penalties of $2,000 per person per day against any hotel housing asylum seekers.

Under the order, County Attorney Thomas Humbach said, hotels and motels in Rockland are prohibited from entering into any agreements with municipalities without a permit.

Day repeatedly held up a copy of the city's published plan, which he said they had to find for themselves.

"What the city of New York is doing is more akin to human trafficking than providing services. That's the best way I can describe it," he said.

NYC officials are looking to expand this program, Day said, which would mean migrant shelters across the Hudson Valley and Long Island.

"Once we got this, we said, 'Oh God, this is going to be continuing,'" he said.

U.S. Rep. Mike Lawler said the governor's office, which has said it was working with New York City on relocation plans, should be embarrassed.

Day would not say if there were plans with law enforcement to stop buses of migrants at the county border.

Told by a reporter that Adams had called his actions racist, Day said, "So we've got the race card again. I think anyone throwing that card out this soon doesn't know what he's doing." Day also reiterated his earlier remark about trafficking: "The mayor is engaged in human trafficking of the worst kind."

Adams spokesman Fabien Levy had issued this statement Monday:

New York City has cared for more than 61,000 migrants — sheltering, feeding, and caring for them, and we have done so largely without incident. We need the federal government to step up, but until they do, we need other elected officials around the state and country to do their part and emulate the humane and compassionate approach New York City has taken over the past year. The Rockland County executive has sadly already shown he is not a leader this state needs. Instead, we’ve been met with racist rhetoric and reprehensible threats from the head of a county that will be tasked with caring for less than ¼ of 1% of the asylum seekers who have come to New York City, and, once again, New York would be paying for shelter, food, and services.

Lawler said it was unfair for the city to shift the cost for housing food and health care to folks who are here illegally to Rockland County, calling it just as "morally bankrupt" as Adams had called the governors of Florida and Texas.

City officials said their plan includes providing three meals a day, health care, laundry, and additional wrap around services.

Lawler also asked what the immigrants' backgrounds were.

"We have no idea who these people are," he said. "Why is Mayor Adams only sending single adult males to locations where there are three universities and a high school within a mile of the hotel?"

Related coverage:

• NY County Declares 'State Of Emergency' Over 300 NYC Migrants
• Rockland Officials Oppose NYC Plan To House Immigrants In Orangetown
• Illegal Immigration: National Issue, Local Effects: Rockland
• NYC Turns NYPD Facility Into Asylum Seeker Housing, Union Says
• Adams Advances Push To Resettle NYC Migrants Upstate
• New Plan For NYC Migrants Includes New Cities, Mayor Won't Say Where