New York Counties Sued For Refusing to Make Hotel Rooms Available for Illegal Migrants

The New York Civil Liberties Union, New York’s affiliate of the ACLU, sued Rockland and Orange Counties for issuing executive orders barring hotels from making rooms available for migrants.

“The New York Civil Liberties Union today filed a federal lawsuit against Rockland and Orange Counties for barring the arrival of migrants who chose to relocate from New York City,” a NYCLU release stated.

“The two counties had issued executive orders barring hotels from making rooms available to migrants, in violation of the Due Process and Equal Protection clauses of the Constitution. The four plaintiffs are migrants who sheltered in New York City and opted into a city-run program to relocate.”

“Immigrants are welcome here and everywhere in the Hudson Valley – county officials must embrace their responsibility to immigrants seeking refuge,” said Ignacio Acevedo, Hudson Valley Organizer at the New York Civil Liberties Union.

“As migrants resettle into our neighborhoods, we must greet them with compassion, inclusion, and solidarity. Anything else is cruel, and doesn’t align with our community’s values of compassion and care.”

“Immigrants have every right to travel and reside anywhere in New York, free of xenophobic harassment and discrimination,” NYCLU tweeted.

NEW: We're suing Rockland and Orange counties for invoking a non-existent emergency in order to bar hotels from making rooms available to migrants.

Immigrants have every right to travel and reside anywhere in New York, free of xenophobic harassment and discrimination. pic.twitter.com/hTfUeB5PhW

— NYCLU (@NYCLU) May 11, 2023

ABC 7 reported:

Buses of migrants from New York City arrived in Orange County on Thursday, despite officials enacting a State of Emergency.

It comes as Orange County had issued an executive order prohibiting hotels to be used as long-term residences.

And later Thursday, Rockland County was granted a temporary restraining order against New York City and Mayor Eric Adams, prohibiting the city proceeding with its plan to turn the Armoni Inn and Suites in Orangeburg into a shelter for 340 migrants.

Officials said due to New York City’s “lack of honest and clear disregard for local and state laws” and the State of Emergency in Orange County, the Rockland County Sheriff’s Office will remain posted outside of the hotel as a precaution.

“The City of New York lacks authority to establish a shelter outside of its boundaries in addition to failing to follow New York State rules and regulations required to do so,” explained Rockland County Attorney Thomas Humbach. “At this point, the Temporary Restraining Order prohibits the City from bringing people to Rockland County for the purpose of sheltering them.”

As a result of Eric Adams’ plan to bus illegal immigrants to counties outside of the five boroughs, homeless veterans got the boot from upstate hotels.

🚨 NEW: Homeless veterans are being booted from NY hotel rooms in order to make room for migrants, according to advocates (New York Post) pic.twitter.com/021lY8Vf8X

— Nick Sortor (@nicksortor) May 13, 2023

From the New York Post:

Nearly two dozen struggling homeless veterans have been booted from upstate hotels to make room for migrants, says a nonprofit group that works with the vets.

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The ex-military — including a 24-year-old man in desperate need of help after serving in Afghanistan — were told by the hotels at the beginning of the week that their temporary housing was getting pulled out from under them at the establishments and that they’d have to move on to another spot, according to the group and a sickened local pol.

“Our veterans have been placed in another hotel due to what’s going on with the immigrants,’’ said Sharon Toney-Finch, the CEO of the Yerik Israel Toney Foundation.

Toney-Finch, a disabled military veteran, created YIT to raise awareness of premature births, as well as helping the homeless and low-income military service veterans in need of living assistance.

cont.

Toney-Finch said 15 of the veterans got the heave-ho from the Crossroads Hotel in Newburgh about 60 miles north of New York City in Orange County — a new epicenter of Big Apple’s migrant crisis since Mayor Eric Adams began bussing Gotham’s overflow there against local officials’ wishes.

The other five displaced veterans were split between two other local facilities — the Super 8 and Hampton Inn & Suites in Middletown, Toney-Finch said.

The Middletown hotels are not believed to have migrants yet but were reportedly on the city’s shortlist to take some.

She said the hotels didn’t explicitly say the vets had to move because of the migrants but that it was clear to her that was the case, given the timing.

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