As the clock ticks down to the end of Title 42, two New York counties have declared states of emergency due to NYC Mayor Eric Adams’ plan to bus migrants into the suburbs within the next 48 hours.
Orange County joined Rockland County on Monday in declaring a state of emergency as they prepare for the arrival of migrants into their respective communities.
According to Rockland County Executive Ed Day (R), “The mayor is still insisting on committing two illegal acts in furtherance of his failure to handle the immigrant crisis in New York City,” as he stated in a Tuesday morning interview on Fox News Channel’s “America’s Newsroom.”
“Being an ex-police officer, he should
know better,” said Day.
Day accused the Mayor of planning to commit “two illegal acts.” The first illegal act, according to Day, would be “boarding the migrants in a hotel in the county for more than 30 days.” The second illegal act, he says, would be “violating the state of emergency that the county has already established,” which he considers a class B misdemeanor.
Expressing his concern, Day added, “To have 300 people dropped on us at one time is ridiculous. There’s just no way we can handle that; … 300 people is five times what the homeless count is [currently] in Rockland County.”
In line with Rockland County’s move, Orange County Executive Steven M. Neuhaus signed an executive order on Monday prohibiting hotels, motels, and short-term rental facilities from accommodating migrants and/or asylum seekers within Orange County.
Neuhaus, who is a Republican, took this step following New York City’s proposed plan to bus “asylum seekers” to the town of Newburgh for temporary housing.
Neuhaus pointed out the hypocrisy of Mayor Adams’ stance in his executive order, noting that Adams had criticized Texas Governor Greg Abbott’s decision to bus migrants “to those jurisdictions with minority mayors,” while he himself was “targeting Republican counties” in a similar manner.
Neuhaus revealed that Adams had initially informed county officials that New York City planned to send approximately 60 adult males to Orange County. However, it was later discovered that the Adams administration had sought to house “additional hundreds” without notifying Orange County. The executive order estimates that the final figure could be in the “thousands.”
“This is hypocritical, and frankly it’s maddening to then turn around and do the exact same thing to a county that isn’t even a sanctuary county,” Day told WCBS.
Day reiterated his resolve to prevent this from happening, stating, “Whatever we need to do to stop this, we will do,” in an interview with The New York Times.
Mayor Eric Adams responded to Day’s criticism in a statement released by his press secretary, Fabien Levy, which was obtained by WHAM.
“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,” the statement read.
