This weekend I declared a State of Emergency in Rockland County to prevent ź¦the busingš° of hundreds of undocumented individuals to a hotel in Orangeburg, New York.
I took this unprecedented action to protect these migrants from being used š§as political pawns yet again and from whatš¼ could have been a one-way bus ticket to hoš°melessness or worse.
Roź¦ckland County, while beautiful, is suburban and does not have the infrastructure to support rapid population growth.
We already have a housing crisis with a severe shortage of safe and affordable units. ą½§This has led to severe overcrowding as unscrupą¼ŗulous landlords take advantage of both new legal migrants and the undocumented.
We saw this situation turn tragic in March when five people, including two children ages 4 and 13, died in a fire in a two-family home āin Spriā¤ng Valley that 18 people were living in.
Mayor Adamsā plan to send single-adult male asylum seekers to Rockland is fatally flawed. He claims that New York City will support these individuals for four months with food, clothing, medical servicš»es and help securing work permits while they integrate into our community and find housing of their own.
Unfortunately, it takes six months minimum, likely longer, for an asšøylum seeker to receive a work permit. The mšayor is setting these folks up for failure ā a failure that will result in their inability to support themselves or find safe housing.
Rockland is not anti-immigrant, but we are struggling wiš±th the organic migration of people with direct ties to our community.
We stand opposed to the mayorās short-sighted plan, which will endanger the lives of our residents both current and ļ·½future.
Ed Day is the Rockland County Executive.