Orange County Executive Steve Neuhaus said New York City Mayor Eric Adams told him last Friday about a plan to move 60 migrants from the city to a hotel in Newburgh for about 30 days.
But as days passed, Neuhaus claims the city was advertising it would be sending the migrants to Orange County for four months.
Neuhaus says that several hotels had been approached by the city to enter into a contract to host migrants. He added these living arrangements would violate local zoning laws.
What You Need To Know
- Orange County Executive Steve Neuhaus said he was recently told of a plan to move 60 migrants from NYC to a Newburgh hotel for 30 days
- But as days passed, Neuhaus claims the city advertised to migrants they would be at the hotel for four months
- Neuhaus declared a state of emergency to attempt to prevent the busing of migrants to Orange County
“It tells the hotels not to rent any rooms to the city of New York for asylum seekers at this current time," Neuhaus said of the state of emergency declaration. "And that's basically where it stands, and we'll see if the city's willing to challenge that.”
In response, grassroots advocacy group For The Many said, in part, that “Neuhaus' and Day’s ‘states of emergency’ are flimsy pretenses to force asylum seekers with nowhere else to go out of their counties.”
Neuhaus said that buses could start arriving tomorrow.
The county has not ruled out fining hotels that take migrants or even using law enforcement to turn the buses around.