Upstate Sullivan County blasted New York City on Thursday ahead of the expected arrival of a busload of migrants to a local hotel where a toddler died earlier this month.
“We fear that this will displace a number of our otherwise-homeless residents, who we house in this and other lodging establishments,” the county Legislature said in a statement.
“Sullivan County will do what it needs to do — including availing itself of all rights and remedies provided by law — to oppose this ill-timed and poorly planned process, while at the same time ensuring the safety of our residents and businesses, and those who come here.”
The move opens up a new front in an escalating battle between the city and upstate counties over the placement of migrants, many of whom are escaping poverty, persecution and violence in their home countries.
More than 40,000 migrants are under the care of New York City out of 60,000 total who have arrived since last summer.
Mayor Eric Adams has claimed counties outside the five boroughs must help considering the mounting costs on the city and decreasing places to put them.
But the Knights Inn in the town of Liberty, where the migrants were expected to arrive sometime Thursday, has a checkered past that includes the death of a toddler earlier this month, according to MidHudson News.
The parent was subsequently charged with criminally negligent homicide and endangering the welfare of a child, Patch reported on May 4.
County officials said they got “less than 24-hour notice” that the migrants were coming to Liberty.
A spokesman for Mayor Eric Adams did not provide immediate comment.
“The way the City, New York State and the Federal government are approaching this issue is
reckless and unsustainable … They are unfairly and illegally making their problem our problem,” Sullivan County officials said.
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