New York City plans to remove from Orange County hotels all illegal immigrants in the
city’s care by the end of the year, according to a Sept. 11 court
filing.
If the plan is implemented, it will end a year-long state court battle between the city and the county over whether the former had legally set up temporary hotels-turned-shelters in Orange County when its own system was maxed out in May 2023.
Orange County attorney Richard Golden told The Epoch Times in a statement that the county is encouraged by the city’s plan and that County Executive Steve Neuhaus has been vigilant and is doing what is necessary to ensure that the rule of law is followed for the benefit of Orange County residents.
He noted that the county’s end goal is a permanent state court ban that would prevent the city from adopting the practice again.
New York City contracted with two Newburgh hotels and several others upstate in May 2023 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 decision, the county filed a lawsuit in the Orange County Supreme Court against both the city and hotels and obtained a temporary ban on the practice.
The city had
sent 186 people to Orange County before the ban, according to an earlier court filing.
As of the Sept. 11 court filing, about 90 illegal immigrants remained at Ramada and Crossroads hotels in the town of Newburgh.
In the same filing, Orange County counsel said the county has agreed to the city’s proposal to move all remaining illegal immigrants at Ramanda to Crossroads and that the city has informed the county that it will remove all remaining illegal immigrants at Crossroads by the end of the year.
Given the new developments, the county has agreed to cede its legal action against the two hotels in the case, which is the county’s sole remaining state court challenge against the city’s shelter practice, according to a Sept. 16 court
filing.
New York City remains a defendant in the case.
New York state allocated
$25 million in the 2024 budget to relocate about 4,400 willing illegal immigrants—who have already applied for asylum—to rental apartments outside the city.
Dubbed the Migrant Relocation Assistance program, it has
five cooperating counties upstate and on Long Island: Albany, Erie, Monroe, Westchester, and Suffolk.
In August 2023, the state advanced
$250 million to New York City to shelter and provide various services to illegal immigrants.
A recent audit by the city comptroller’s office found that the city
overpaid upstate hotels and other subcontractors by millions of dollars for sheltering illegal immigrants in May 2023 and June 2023.
According to the audit
report, the city responded that many “overpayments” to subcontractors were for valid reasons. For example, it stated that it purchased food and hotel rooms beyond what was immediately needed in preparation for a likely sudden influx.
