A Rockland County judge partially slammed the brakes on Mayor Eric Adams’ plan to send a small portion of the tens of thousands of migrants who’ve overwhelmed the city’s shelter population and emergency capacity to stay at hotels in two upstate towns.
State Supreme Court Judge Christie D’Alessio issued a restraining order Tuesday night that temporarily halted the Adams administration’s plans to send 30 single-adult male migrants to the Armoni Inn and Suites in Orangetown, located in Rockland County, for an up-to four-month stay.
The temporary restraining order stemmed from a suit brought by Orangetown Supervisor Teresa Kenny against the hotel, and two other LLCs, aimed at preventing the hotel from being used for “non-transient” guests, until that use is considered and approved by the town.
The ruling has derailed the first phase of City Hall’s plan to relocate 300 of the more than 61,000 migrants who have flooded the city to hotels in Rockland and Orange Counties. The plan has been met with fierce backlash from local officials in both upstate counties since it was announced last Friday.
Attorneys for both sides are due back in court Monday morning, when the judge will hear oral arguments in the case.
The city’s plan, announced via press release late last Friday, was designed allow some asylum seekers — already in the city’s care — to opt into being sent to the two upstate hotels, where the city would pay for their stays and access to the same services available at emergency shelters and the Humanitarian Emergency Relief and Response Centers (HERRCs).
In a Tuesday night statement, tweeted by a reporter, Mayoral spokesperson Fabien Levy said it’ll be up to the hotel to “decide how to move forward” in Rockland, but the city’s plans to transport migrants to Orange County on Wednesday will proceed.
“We will allow the hotel to decide how to move forward in Rockland County,” Levy said. “But our plan is still to move a small number of asylum seekers tomorrow barring any security issues.”
Levy also blasted Rockland County Executive Edwin Day, a Republican, who declared a state of emergency over the weekend to block the city’s plan to send asylum seekers to a hotel in his jurisdiction and for filing the restraining order.
“The Rockland County executive has already shown he is incapable of managing less than ¼ of 1% of the asylum seekers who have come to New York City, even with New York paying for shelter, food, and services, and all this temporary order shows is that he is incapable of demonstrating a shred of the humane and compassionate care New York City has shown over the past year,” he said.
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