New York state supreme court judge grants restraining order temporarily blocking NYC mayor from sending more asylum seekers to Orange County
CNN —
A New York state supreme court judge has granted a temporary restraining order blocking New York Mayor Eric Adams from sending asylum seekers to nearby Orange County in his bid to ease the influx of migrants arriving in his city.
The order, requested last week by Orange County Executive Steven Neuhaus, allows for the 186 asylum seekers already at the Crossroads Hotel and Ramada by Wyndham in the Town of Newburgh to stay in the county, according to the filing.
New migrants, however, won’t be allowed to take up residence at the hotels if any of the current occupants leave, according to the order.
“New York City should not be establishing a homeless shelter outside of its borders in Orange County,” Neuhaus said in a statement. “The city is a self-proclaimed sanctuary city; Orange County is not. We should not have to bear the burden of the immigration crisis that the Federal government and Mayor Adams created, and I will continue to fight for Orange County’s residents in regard to this important manner.”
The pushback comes as New York City scrambles to house a crush of migrants arriving in the city – some of them bused to New York by Republican governors and local officials from southern states.
Since last spring, New York City has processed more than 65,000 migrants and around 35,000 remain in the city’s care, city officials have said. The city has opened more than 140 emergency shelters and eight large-scale humanitarian relief centers to manage the crisis, the mayor said.
Sending willing migrants to hotels outside the city was part of the Adams administration’s plan to deal with what authorities believed would be a greater surge of migrants arriving in the city after last week’s expiration of a Covid-related border restriction policy, Title 42.
New York Gov. Kathy Hochul last week asked for federal government assistance with constructing and operating temporary shelters “in anticipation of several thousand asylum seekers arriving in New York City every week.”
Adams’ office told CNN Tuesday night they’re disappointed in the judge’s ruling.
“New York City has cared for more than 65,000 migrants – sheltering, feeding, and caring for them, and we have done so largely without incident,” Adams’ press secretary Fabien Levy told CNN. “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. New York City is out of space and we’re only asking Orange County to manage approximately ¼ of 1% of the asylum seekers who have come to New York City, with New York paying for shelter, food, and services.”
A judge previously granted a temporary restraining order that blocks the city from transporting migrants to a hotel in Rockland County – another New York county that filed its own lawsuit alleging Adams’ plan to bus migrants to a hotel there exceeds the city’s legal authority.
The New York Immigration Coalition, an immigrant’s rights advocacy group, criticized both Adams and Neuhaus, saying the two need to start working together in coordinating and addressing the needs of asylum seekers in the region.
“But County Executive Neuhaus shouldn’t be gloating about the judge’s temporary restraining order. His actions in response to asylum seekers to his region have been shameful – he has done nothing more than stoke fear and resentment in his community,” NYIC Executive Director Murad Awawdeh said in a statement. “At a moment when he should be choosing to welcome, he has instead chosen cruelty.”
Source: CNN
