Gov. Hochul examining ‘constitutionality’ of local attempts to ban NYC from sending migrants
Gov. Kathy Hochul says her administration is examining whether local governments can legally block New York City from sending migrants into their communities.
“We’re looking into the constitutionality of what they did,” Hochul told reporters in New York City on Wednesday.
A key question is whether gubernatorial authority can override the local orders if a restraining order imposed by a Rockland judge gets lifted, according to Hochul.
She added an analysis would be finished “very shortly.”
Her comments come in response to states of emergency declared in recent days by the leaders of Rockland and Orange counties to bar local hotels and short-term rentals from accepting migrants sent from New York City.
Mayor Eric Adams has claimed other localities must help the city accommodate a deluge of migrants sent from the U.S. Southern Border that is now costing the Big Apple billions of dollars.
“Rockland County, while beautiful, is suburban and does not have the infrastructure to support rapid population growth,” County Executive Ed Day said in a Sunday op-ed.
“We already have a housing crisis with a severe shortage of safe and affordable units.”
About 37,000 migrants are currently being housed in facilities run or funded by the city, with more than 61,000 migrants total having passed through the city in recent months.
The migrant situation is expected to worsen following the scheduled end of a federal immigration rule on Thursday that has allowed officials to immediately expel people who crossed the border illegally.
“We believe that this is going to continue to grow in scale. I’m working very closely with the mayor to identify more sites that we can welcome these individuals,” Hochul said.
Hochul issued an executive order on Tuesday to deploy 500 more members of the National Guard while speeding up the delivery of $1 billion in new state aid to help the city.
“We have hit a crisis situation,” Hochul said.
The number of counties resisting the arrival of migrants grew on Wednesday when upstate Oneida County, where refugee-friendly Utica is located, joined the Hudson Valley counties on Wednesday in barring accommodations for migrants.
“We’ve always been known as the city and the county that loves refugees, but that’s a totally different scenario than what we’re seeing today in terms of the undocumented migrants that are being brought in,” Oneida County Executive Anthony Picente told The Post on Wednesday.
He added that outstanding challenges like homelessness and opioid addiction mean the upstate county does not have enough resources to handle the arrival of migrants.
“I understand the city’s situation, but you know the same way they don’t have the capacity or the financial wherewithal to do it and neither do I,” he said.
Hochul has faced criticism for not acting quickly enough to resolve the brewing dispute between New York City and other local governments.
“We need a coordinated plan, and we need the governor to convene us. The biggest thing is no one wants to be surprised with a busload of 350 men. It needs to be a staged, coordinated plan,” New York State Association of Counties Executive Director Steve Acquario previously told The Post.
Hochul has emphasized that at least some of the migrants — many of whom are pursuing political asylum after escaping poverty and persecution in countries like Venezuela — could stand on their own feet once they are eligible for work permits after being in the country for roughly six months.
“I do believe that once this work status is confirmed, it’d be a lot easier for people to be placed,” she said.
Adams has vociferously criticized the Democratic president in recent weeks for turning a blind eye towards New York City while it is “being destroyed by the migrant crisis” that began late last year after Texas Gov. Greg Abbot began sending migrants by bus.
Biden visited New York on Wednesday to speak out against Congressional Republicans opposed to increasing the federal debt ceiling without deep spending cuts to social programs.
A Hochul spokeswoman did not provide immediate comment about whether Hochul brought up the migrant issue with Biden on Wednesday.
“This is again, where the federal government has a role to play in allowing that to happen and making that decision, which we’ve been asking for for a long time, as well as more resources from the federal government to help us here on the ground who are dealing with this crisis,” Hochul told reporters Wednesday.
