ALBANY — Gov. Kathleen C. Hochul has declared a state of emergency in New York because of a significant number of migrants seeking shelter in New York City, as city officials plan to send some of those migrants to communities upstate.
That emergency declaration comes as New York City hosts nearly 37,000 migrants sent north from the U.S.-Mexico border, with about 1,500 coming in the last seven days. The influx of migrants, many of whom are adult men bused north from Texas by Republican Gov. Greg Abbott, has strained the city’s social safety net and packed traditional shelters.
The emergency declaration allows state and local officials to quickly access the $1 billion that the state budget set aside for migrant housing this year.
The issue has become a political hot potato, with New York City Mayor Eric Adams announcing a plan to send a few hundred migrants north from his city to two communities in Rockland and Orange counties in the Hudson Valley. The Republican leaders of those counties have declared their own states of emergency, using the expanded powers given to county executives in states of emergency to bar local hotels, motels or vacation rentals from accepting migrants from New York City.
Even counties that have not been identified as potential host communities have instituted states of emergency. Rensselaer County executive Steve McLaughlin, a Republican who has been an outspoken opponent of Gov. Hochul and Democratic leadership, declared a state of emergency Wednesday, barring any hotel, motel or municipality in Rensselaer County from entering into a contract to house migrants.
There is no plan to send migrants to Rensselaer County, or any community outside of Orange and Rockland counties.
It’s gotten the attention of Rep. Elise M. Stefanik, R-Willsboro, who represents Rensselaer County in Congress. Rather than criticize the Texas governor for sending the migrants to a city unprepared to host them, the congresswoman criticized the president and Gov. Hochul.
“Upstate New York should not be forced to bear the burden of far left open border policies and the gross incompetency of Joe Biden and Kathy Hochul,” she said.
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