County official vows to fight NYC mayor’s migrant bus plan

NEW YORK (AP) — A top official representing a suburban New York county where New York City’s mayor wants to send asylum seekers vowed to fight the plan Monday by enforcing the state of emergency he declared over the weekend.

Rockland County Executive Ed Day, a Republican, planned a news conference to discuss New York City Mayor Eric Adams’ plan to bus up to 300 single adult male migrants to hotels in Rockland and Orange counties.

Adams, a Democrat, announced the plan Friday to bus migrants to the two counties north of the city on a voluntary basis. He said the program would help the city handle the more than 37,500 asylum seekers already in the city’s care.

Adams said the migrants would be provided with meals and other services during their time in the hotels.

Day responded by announcing a state of emergency Saturday.

The county executive said Rockland County already has an “extreme” housing crisis and sending busloads of migrants “will only compound that issue tenfold while straining support systems that are already at a breaking point.”

Day said in a news release that the state of emergency will prohibit other municipalities from bringing people to Rockland County and will prohibit hotels and motels from housing immigrants without a license.

He said the state of emergency will remain in effect for at least 30 days and include fines of $2,000 per migrant for the hotels and for any municipality that sends migrants to Rockland.

Day planned a news conference later Monday with other opponents of Adams’ plan including U.S. Rep. Michael Lawler, a Republican.

Asked for a comment on Day’s state of emergency, a spokesperson for Adams referred to the mayor’s Friday news release about the migrant plan.