Global Courant 2023-05-31 19:23:06
New York Governor Kathy Hochul on Tuesday defended fellow Democrat New York Mayor Eric Adams’ controversial program to move migrants elsewhere in the state as lawsuits mount.
At a press conference designed to discuss the Environmental Bond Act, a $4.2 billion initiative to address climate change in western New York, Hochul finally answered questions about the influx of nearly 70,000 asylum seekers living in New York. City have arrived.
“We’ve encouraged them to give as much notice as possible to county officials. Given the size of the affected people, it’s not always going to be perfect,” Hochul said of Adams’ plans to move migrants north and possibly Long Island. transport. and lodging them there in hotels for several months, if not longer.
Around the expiration of Title 42, the city saw 5,800 people arrive in one week, and about 4,000 the week before. More than 48,000 migrants are currently in shelters in New York City.
“It’s all about preparation. And a lot of people say the sky falls before anything has happened. The vast majority of these people are just looking for legal humanitarian aid. They’re legal here. They’re absolutely legal here. They’ve got it right to seek asylum in this country based on what they endured in their home country,” Hochul said.
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New York Governor Kathy Hochul and New York Mayor Eric Adams will hold a press conference on Monday, May 22, 2023 to call on the federal government to issue work permits to asylum seekers in Brooklyn. (Theodore Parisienne/New York Daily News/Tribune News Service via Getty Images)
The governor thanked Eerie County Executive Mike Poloncarz, a Democrat, for being amenable to accepting migrants from New York City, but said there was no plan yet to send them there. Hochul did say that the Albany capital, “with notice to the mayor there,” has received migrants from New York City and that the transfer is “going well from what we hear.”
Albany mayor Kathy Sheehan, another Democrat, has said a second and third batch of about 40 migrants will arrive in the state capital on Sunday and Monday, respectively, bringing the total received in Albany so far to 105. coming, reported the Albany Times Union.
Meanwhile, the city of Colonie, located in Albany County, was granted a temporary court order to prevent any more asylum seekers from being sent there from New York City.
About two dozen migrants arrived Saturday night at a SureStay Plus Hotel by Best Western in Colonie, the New York Daily News reported. The city government sued New York City in the Albany Supreme Court, alleging that the Adams administration “made no attempt to communicate with the city” about its transfer plans.
Colonie Town Supervisor Peter Crummey, elected last June as the town’s first Republican supervisor in 14 years, issued a statement describing the hotel as a “hotbed of police activity” and accusing Adams of “disregarding the welfare of the persons subjected to its forced bus catastrophe.”
Asylum seekers board a bus bound for a shelter at the Port Authority Bus Terminal in New York City on May 18, 2023. Mayor Eric Adams spoke of the daily arrival of hundreds of migrants as his government struggles to find shelter. (Michael M.Santiago/Getty Images)
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“New York City’s detention system is overcrowded,” Hochul said Tuesday, pointing to Friday’s announcement that a repurposed prison in New York City will house more than 500 people. State and city officials also looked at a hangar at John F. Kennedy International Airport, pending federal approval.
“We are very focused on serving all state properties and that includes SUNY dormitories, shuttered psychiatric centers and anywhere we can find space to help ease some of the burden of New York City and their shelter requirements,” said Hochul . , adding that ”
