On Tuesday, May 9th, a judge in Rockland County issued a temporary restraining order halting the Armoni Inn, a hotel in the county, from accepting migrants that are being bused by New York City.
Following the announcement on Friday, May 5th, by the Adams Administration that they would begin bussing migrants out of New York City into nearby counties to relieve the stress the migrants are placing on the city’s shelter system, officials from Rockland County and Orange County have taken steps to prevent the migrants from being sent and housed in their suburban communities.
New York State Supreme Court Judge Christie D’Alessio’s ruling on Tuesday, May 9th, prevents the hotel in Orangeburg from becoming a shelter by barring them from housing “non-transient guests.” The argument made by Orangetown was that the hotel was incapable of hosting the migrants due to a lack of proper building and zoning approvals for extended period stays. Town code, as stated by Orangetown Supervisor Teresa Kenny, states that town code does not allow hotel guests to stay for longer than a 30-day period.
During a City Council hearing on Monday, May 8th, Molly Park, the Acting Department of Social Services Commissioner, said that the busing of migrants by the city would start this week. She said, “I believe we anticipate for it to launch this week, but again this is a situation that is evolving rapidly on the ground.”
As previously reported by LittleAfrica News, Rockland County Executive Ed Day declared a state of emergency last weekend upon Mayor Adams’ announcement, trying to stop the migrants from being bused into the county. Day said, “This is absurd, and we will not stand for it. There is nothing humanitarian about a Sanctuary City sending busloads of people to a county that does not have the infrastructure to care for them. It’s the same as throwing them in the middle of the ocean with nowhere to swim.”
On Monday, Orange County Executive Steve Neuhaus did the same thing, declaring a state of emergency in an effort to prevent hotels from accepting and housing migrants.
Thousands of migrants have been bused to New York City since last year. Mayor Adams and his administration have called for the Biden Administration to close the border and send aid to help the economic strain catering to the migrants has caused on the city. In his recently announced Executive Budget, the city is slated to spend $4 billion on the migrant crisis.
