Judge temporarily blocks NYC mayor from sending asylum-seekers to nearby county

A New York state judge has temporarily blocked New York City Mayor Eric Adams (D) from sending asylum-seekers to a nearby county as the city tries to manage an influx of migrants. 

The Tuesday ruling from New York Supreme Court Judge Sandra Sciortino allows the migrants who have already been transported to the Crossroads Hotel and Ramada by Wyndham in the town of Newburgh in Orange County to remain there, but it bars the city government from sending any additional migrants there. 

Orange County Executive Steven Neuhaus and county Department of Social Services Commissioner Darcie Miller filed the case to stop the city from continuing to transport the migrants. 

Sciortino’s ruling will also allow the county to make inspections of the premises where the migrants are being housed if reasonable notice is given and the inspections do not interfere with the services they receive. 

The city will still be responsible for paying for the expenses to house the migrants, including for medical services, food, laundry, security and transportation. Within five days of Sciortino’s order, it also must provide the county with identification of the asylum-seekers. 

Adams turned to trying to send some migrants outside of the city because it has faced a surge of those who are seeking asylum, largely from Republican governors who have sent migrants arriving in their states to New York. 

Adams bashed the White House and congressional Republicans earlier this month over the situation, arguing that cities should not have to handle the situation themselves. He said the White House is being irresponsible for not addressing the problem, and the Republicans are being irresponsible for “refusing” to pursue “real immigration reform.” 

He also said on Tuesday the city was looking into housing migrants at about 20 school gyms that are separate from the school buildings. 

Neuhaus praised the judge’s ruling in a statement, saying New York City should not be trying to create a “homeless shelter” outside of its borders. 

“The city is a self-proclaimed sanctuary city; Orange County is not,” he said. “We should not have to bear the burden of the immigration crisis that the Federal government and Mayor Adams created, and I will continue to fight for Orange County’s residents in regard to this important manner.”

Neuhaus said the county learned after the ruling that the city was planning to send seven buses of migrants to the county on Tuesday, but that plan will no longer happen with the decision. 

Fabien Levy, the press secretary for the mayor’s office, told The Hill in a statement the city has sheltered, fed and cared for more than 65,000 migrants, mostly without any incident. He said the office is “disappointed” in the ruling and is reviewing its legal options.

“We need the federal government to step up, but until they do, we need other elected officials around the state and country to do their part,” Levy said. “New York City is out of space, and we’re only asking Orange County to manage approximately one-fourth of 1 percent of the asylum seekers who have come to New York City, with New York paying for shelter, food, and services.”

The parties are due back in court June 21.