Plan to house asylum seekers at Rockland hotel may be blocked by county executive's order

Plans by New York City to temporarily house asylum seekers at a Rockland County hotel may be derailed by an order issued over the weekend by County Executive Ed Day.

City officials announced Friday they will place up to 300 immigrant men at two hotels in Rockland and Orange counties to help manage the huge influx of asylum seekers bused to New York City from the southern border. They say the city is caring for nearly 38,000 asylum seekers and needs to free up housing space for new arrivals.

Day, who adamantly opposes the plan, issued an order Saturday that prohibits the city from housing migrants or asylum seekers at any Rockland hotel without his permission. That prohibition would apply to the Armoni Inn and Suites, the hotel off Route 303 in Orangeburg that was expected to take in some of the city's asylum seekers.

The county could fine the city $2,000 per day for each asylum seeker for violating the order.

Day's order allows the county to license a hotel to house migrants only if the contract limits their stay to 15 days and the city proves in advance it can pay for their lodging and other needs. The city also would have to reimburse the host municipality or county for any costs they incur.

"We are not equipped to humanely assist these individuals, which ultimately we would have to do," Day said Monday at a press conference with other elected officials at his office in New City.

A spokesman for New York City Mayor Eric Adams told The Journal News/lohud on Monday that the city hasn't changed its housing plans in Rockland in response to Day's order.

NYC pushing migrants to Rockland, Orange NYC plans to send new immigrants to Rockland, Orange. 'We will not stand for it,' Day says

'I implore the mayor to re-think this'

Adams and his administration now face another obstacle.

Orangetown Supervisor Teresa Kenny announced on Facebook on Monday that the town building inspector had cited the Armoni after concluding from a visit by two town employees that it was preparing to "turn the hotel essentially into a NYC-run shelter."

"That use constitutes a violation of the Certificate of Occupancy for the hotel," Kenny said.

At Monday's press conference, Day and Kenny blasted the Adams administration for springing its plan for the Rockland hotel on them without consultation on Friday, and said the mayor and his aides were evasive when probed for details.

Under the city's plan the men would stay for up to four months in the two hotels, with the city paying for their lodging, food and medicine, as it would if they were lodged in New York City.

Day also questioned what the city planned to do with the men after four months and scoffed at the city's suggestion that they could find work in Rockland. He argued it would take longer than four months just for them to get federal work authorization.

"It's not four months," Day said. "If you're lucky, it's six months."

Housing migrants in a suburban, residential area is inappropriate, Kenny argued. She said the city still hadn’t revealed how many men it plans to send or when, and if it had done criminal background checks on them.

Orangetown is ready to sue the city if it proceeds with the plan, Kenny said.

“I implore the mayor to re-think this,” she added.

Hotels geared up to take in migrants?

Dozens of mattresses and bed frames were seen stacked outside the Armoni front entrance on Friday, apparently to accommodate the asylum seekers. Kenny said inspectors who went inside on Sunday found stacks of shirts marked for social service workers and a room stocked with medicine. The Armoni owners haven't responded to requests for comment by the Journal News/lohud.

The other hotel that has agreed to board some of the city's asylum seekers is The Crossroads, off Interstate 84 in the town of Newburgh in Orange County. County and town officials said they were expecting up to 60 migrant men at that site.

Orange County Executive Steve Neuhaus announced Monday night that he issued an order prohibiting hotels, motels and short-term rental properties from housing migrants or asylum seekers. Newburgh Supervisor Gil Piaquadio told The Journal News/lohud he had asked Adams to delay sending migrants because The Crossroads is in a mostly residential area with few services in walking distance.

Day said Friday that the Armoni in Orangeburg was expected to house up to 340 immigrants, an estimate that was based on the expectation that the city would book all 171 rooms and place two men in each.

But city officials say they will send a total of up to 300 men to both hotels in Rockland and Orange — a number that depends on how many volunteer to go.

Adams, Day spar with fiery statements, accuse each other of racism

Day has denounced the housing plan and Adams himself with heated words, calling the mayor a bully and liar and sending this message to him during a radio interview on Saturday: “Mr. Adams, you try to run us over, I will reach up and grab you by the throat.”

Adams' spokesman, Fabien Levy, returned fire on Monday, accusing Day of "racist rhetoric and reprehensible threats." He said the city was sending Rockland - and paying for - a tiny fraction of the more than 61,000 migrants that the city has housed since last spring.

"We need the federal government to step up, but until they do, we need other elected officials around the state and country to do their part and emulate the humane and compassionate approach New York City has taken over the past year," Levy said in a statement. "The Rockland County executive has sadly already shown he is not a leader this state needs."

Asked about those remarks at Monday's press conference, Day shot back, "So we got the race card again."

"I think anybody who throws that card out that quickly has got his own set of problems, including being a racist himself," he said.

Then Day threw another jab: "The mayor is engaged in human trafficking of the worst kind. He's talking out both sides of his mouth, talking about how wonderful he's taking care of people, and what he's doing is putting them in the worst possible situation."

Federal policies are to blame, officials claimed

Speaking after Day, Rep. Mike Lawler, a Rockland County Republican, blamed the Biden administration for failing to stem the flow of asylum seekers into the U.S, which he called a "humanitarian crisis."

"This is unfair to everybody involved, including those who are seeking a better life here," he said. "It doesn't work."

Liza Barrie, the Orangetown Democratic chairwoman, countered that blame lies instead with two Republican governors - Greg Abbott of Texas and Ron DeSantis of Florida - who have transported thousands of migrants to New York.

"Unfortunately, Rockland Republicans have followed their lead in politicizing the arrival of asylum seekers, stoking fear and hatred instead of seeking practical humanitarian solutions," Barrie said in a statement. "They should be ashamed of themselves."

Schenley Vital, chairman of the Rockland County Democratic Committee, called for comprehensive immigration reform to repair broken federal policies that have "the potential to have a profound effect on local communities, causing hardship and uncertainty for many individuals and families." He said it was "disappointing to see political leaders exploit a predicament to sow fear and ignorance."

City officials say they may later expand their new program by relocating asylum seekers to other hotels besides the initial two in Rockland and Orange. They are expecting a continued influx with the termination this week of Title 42, a policy the federal government used during the pandemic to expel hundreds of thousands of people who illegally crossed the southern border.

Staff writer Nancy Cutler contributed to this report.

Chris McKenna covers government and politics for The Journal News and USA Today Network. Reach him at cmckenna@gannett.com.

This article originally appeared on New York State Team: Rockland order seeks to prevent plan to house asylum seekers at hotel