Two Suits Filed To Stop NYC From Housing Migrants In Rockland County

ORANGETOWN, NY — A multi-pronged approach to keeping New York City from housing any asylum-seekers in Rockland County has expanded to include legal and regulatory efforts since officials learned yesterday from Mayor Eric Adams that he still planned to send 30 migrants to a local hotel Wednesday despite County Executive Ed Day's emergency order Saturday banning them.

Rockland Supreme Court judge issued a temporary restraining order late Tuesday afternoon at the town's request, Orangetown Town Supervisor Teresa Kenny said at a news briefing Wednesday morning with Day.

The city's plan was to put several hundred single adults at the Armani Inn & Suites hotel in Orangeburg for four months. However, town officials said, the hotel's permits and certificate of occupancy do not permit guests to stay for more than 30 days. The town already issued a notice of violation to hotel management.

The restraining order will last until the town and the hotel appear in court.

The town and county argue that the migrants are, in effect, homeless people whom the city was planning to shelter temporarily at the hotel.

"The status of these individuals is irrelevant," said Kenny.

She said in the "debriefing" call that Adams had made it clear the 30 men would be quickly followed by more.

Given that information, Rockland County filed for a restraining order against the city at 11:30 p.m. Tuesday.

County Commissioner of Social Services Joan Silvestri told reporters that the city had tried to skip New York State regulations on homeless shelters, though Adams had issued his own emergency order to expedite the process of getting shelters up and running in the boroughs.

"They can call it what they want — it is a shelter," she said. "Curfew, rules and regulations, three meals a day, laundry service, case workers, security staff ... This is a shelter and the City of New York bypassed all the regulations to set it up."

Rockland County has a family shelter but does not even have one for single adults. "As of this morning, we have nobody seeking shelter in Rockland County," Silvestri said.

Moreover, she said, the federal government does not give any aid to any municipality for anybody who does not have legal status.

"We’re not without a heart," she said, pointing out that the county funds many nonprofits that help residents including the roughly 70 homeless people in the county and has upped its contributions to the many local food pantries who have seen upswings in the number of people seeking help.

Most of the immigrants who have come to Rockland have family or friends that draw them, she said. "They enroll in our schools, we take them in. We do not see any reimbursement."

The county also took a look at the hotel's license from the Health Department. It had expired April 30. The management has since applied for renewal. That is on hold due to the pending litigation. Also, as the County of Rockland has declared a State of Emergency, the establishment must now obtain a license under the Emergency Order before that renewal is granted, Day said.

Meanwhile, the hotel may not accept and house guests of any kind. Day said Rockland Sheriff's deputies were patrolling the hotel. If any buses come, Day said, the deputies have been instructed to stop the bus, do a field investigation and inform the driver of the circumstances.

The county's emergency order includes a penalty of $2,000 per person per day against any business that houses migrants under the NYC plan.

The new steps were taken after New York Mayor Eric Adams finally communicated directly with Rockland officials Tuesday to indicate they were proceeding with their plan for Orangeburg, Day said.

Day said they also learned Tuesday that the Adams administration had been reaching out to other commercial properties including a hotel in Nyack trying to secure more shelters in Rockland for migrants.

In a news release after the briefing, Rockland County officials urged residents to reach out to New York's two senators on their concerns about the current immigration system.

• Senator Charles Schumer https://www.schumer.senate.gov/ Phone: (202) 224-6542 Fax: (202) 228-3027
• Senator Kirsten Gillibrand: https://www.gillibrand.senate.gov/ Tel. (202) 224-4451 Fax (202) 228-4977

Rockland County is also represented in Congress by:

• Rep. Mike Lawler https://lawler.house.gov/ Phone: (845) 201-2060 District Office: One Blue Hill Plaza, Third Floor, P.O. Box 1645, Pearl River, NY 10965