Orange County sues NYC over plan to send migrants to hotels

Orange County officials sued the Adams administration and two Newburgh hotels on Friday over the planned transfer of migrants from New York City shelters to the county, which they say lacks the infrastructure to support the migrants and had been left in the dark when it came to planning and coordination.

In two lawsuits filed in state Supreme Court on Friday, Orange County Executive Steven Neuhaus said the transfer was tantamount to establishing unlicensed homeless shelters in Orange County, which is outside of the jurisdiction of the five boroughs. 

“This would, overnight, more than double the county’s homeless population, with no planning, no coordination and no funding in place to support this population in the long term, who are unlikely to be either returned to the city or other locations in the medium or short term,” the lawsuit against the city reads.

Neighboring Rockland County won a temporary injunction on Thursday that halted the city’s planned transfer of migrants there. New York City Mayor Eric Adams’ announcement that the city planned to temporarily pay for shelters for single adult men who volunteered to relocate to the suburbs sparked immediate backlash from county officials.

The executives of Rockland and Orange counties each declared a state of emergency to block Adams’ plan, which in turn invited legal scrutiny from the New York Civil Liberties Union.

But several dozen migrants arrived in Orange County via a single bus on Friday.

More than 60,000 migrants, many of whom are seeking asylum, have arrived in the city since last spring, testing the city’s identity as a sanctuary for those seeking refuge. Adams has increasingly gone on the offensive against the federal government and other localities, demanding that others step in to provide shelter and other necessities.

“Petitioners-Plaintiffs are not asserting that these particular individuals are problematic, nor are they opining on the fundamental political questions of the United States’ immigration policies, but rather it is the actions of the city of New York and its reckless disregard for the rules that govern this state, as well as its roughshod treatment of its co-equal municipalities that is at issue, deeply problematic and illegal,” Orange County’s lawsuit against the city reads.

In response to the Orange County lawsuits, Adams’ spokesperson Fabien Levy said the city was weighing 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 in a statement. “Right now, we’re asking Orange County to manage less than one-fourth of 1% of the asylum-seekers who have come to New York City, with New York paying for shelter, food and services.”

The two hotels, the Crossroads Hotel and the Ramada by Wyndham, face a separate lawsuit from the county in addition to the Article 78 complaint that includes city officials as defendants. The hotels are accused of violating the state of emergency by agreeing to accept migrants from the city.

“The county expects the city to house at least 600-plus homeless between these two hotels, now homeless shelters, with likely additional locations of which the county is presently unaware,” the lawsuit against the hotels reads.

Attempts to reach the hotels for comment were unsuccessful. A call and text message associated with the registered owner of the Ramada franchise was not returned early Saturday afternoon. A receptionist with the Crossroads Hotel did not say who the owner is, and referred Gothamist to the manager. A request for comment left on the manager’s voicemail was not immediately returned.

Legal experts have argued it would be unconstitutional for the counties to prevent the transfer of migrants into their territories.