NYC Removes All Illegal Immigrants From Orange County Hotels

Illegal immigrants who had been sent to upstate counties by New York City Mayor Eric Adams sit in the front yard of a hotel in Newburgh, N.Y., on May 15, 2023. Cara Ding/The Epoch Times

New York City has removed from Orange County hotels all illegal immigrants under the city’s care, according to a court filing dated Dec. 9.

In the letter to state Supreme Court Judge Sandra Sciortino, a city lawyer confirmed that, as of Dec. 6, no illegal immigrants reside in any hotels in Orange County. The attorney also said the city has ceased its yearlong temporary housing operation in the county.

As recently as mid-September, about 90 illegal immigrants were still staying at Ramada and Crossroads hotels in the town of Newburgh as part of a city-sponsored shelter program.

The late development in Orange County is part of a broader shelter-closure plan under Mayor Eric Adams, who said on Dec. 10 that he will shut 25 more shelters—both in and outside the city—by March as the number of illegal immigrants under the city’s care continuously drops.

According to the Mayor’s Office, the number of illegal immigrants within its shelter system has been on the decline over the past five months and is now at the lowest point in a year and a half.

In May 2023, New York City contracted with two Newburgh hotels and several others upstate when arrivals of illegal immigrants in the Big Apple reached more than 60,000 in one year. At the time, more than 37,500 of them were in the city’s care. Within days of the city’s move, the county filed a lawsuit in the Orange County Supreme Court against both the city and hotels and obtained a temporary ban on the controversial hotel-shelter practice.

Before the court ban, the city had already sent 186 people to Orange County hotels.

The heart of the legal dispute was whether the city violated related state social services laws when it operated makeshift hotel shelters beyond its municipal boundaries.

Despite the late reversal of the city’s shelter policy, Orange County attorney Rickard Golden told The Epoch Times that the county will continue its legal effort to obtain a permanent court ban against future reoccurrences.

“County Executive Steve Neuhaus remains ever vigilant to ensure that the City continues to follow the law in this regard,” Golden told the publication in a statement on Dec. 13.

He added that there is an active executive order barring hotels and other short-term rental facilities in Orange County from accepting any individuals transported to the county in violation of state laws.

Last August, New York state advanced $250 million to New York City to shelter and provide various social services to illegal immigrants. The state also allocated $25 million to relocate about 4,400 willing illegal immigrants—who had already applied for asylum—to rental apartments in five counties north of the city.

Over the past two years, the city has helped over 170,000 illegal immigrants take the step beyond temporary shelters through assistance in work authorization applications, sponsored train or bus tickets to desired destinations, and other programs, according to the Mayor’s Office.

A recent audit by the city comptroller’s office found that the city overpaid its main contractor and subcontractors by millions of dollars for sheltering illegal immigrants in May 2023 and June 2023.

According to the audit report released in August 2024, the city responded that many overpayments were made for valid reasons. For example, it purchased food and hotel rooms beyond what was immediately needed in preparation for a likely sudden influx.