Fishkill Town Board Votes To Make Housing Migrants Illegal

FISHKILL, NY — The Fishkill Town Board unanimously voted to prevent hotels and other facilities in the town from being used as a migrant shelter.

The resolution, passed Friday in a special meeting, authorized the town to begin civil and/or criminal actions against any property owner who illegally uses property as a “migrant shelter of dormitory facility.” The town is also authorized to begin civil action against New York City in the event that it tries to illegally use hotels or other facilities in the town as shelters or dorms.

A certified copy of the resolution will be sent to every hotel in the town of Fishkill along with a letter advising the hotel owners that use of their hotel facilities as a shelter or dormitory is illegal and “will subject them to criminal prosecution and civil liability.”

Part of the rationalization for the resolution was the use of hotels or other facilities to shelter “hundreds of illegal immigrants would cause irreparable harm to the Town and its residents due to the overextending of the Town’s central services and the cost imposed on the local taxpayers.”

Supervisor Ozzy Albra said during the meeting that the now-vacant Downstate Correctional Facility was being considered by the state, but the facility has been boarded up and there is no electricity or water at the site.

He added the former prison is not in any fire or ambulance protection district because, when it was operational, it had its own emergency team.