New York City has sent 1,511 illegal immigrants to upstate hotels since it began the practice in early May, according to an affidavit filed by the Deputy Chief Staff of the Mayor’s Office, Molly Shaeffer.
Ms. Shaeffer submitted the filing to Orange County Supreme Court on July 20 in response to a county lawsuit seeking to put a stop to the practice.
All illegal immigrants stay at hotels in five counties: Westchester, Dutchess, Albany, Erie, and Orange, with associated costs covered by the city.
The city had sent 186 illegal immigrants to two hotels in the Town of Newburgh before Orange County filed a lawsuit to stop it and obtained a court order banning further transfers for the duration of the litigation.
The lawsuit alleges that the city operated shelters in the county without following due process under state law and asked the court to invalidate the practice.
The case, filed on May 18, is one of five pending lawsuits engaged by both sides on the matter.
Since the court ban, the city has not made any additional transfers to Orange County, Ms. Shaeffer said in the filing.
The city had wanted to send the illegal immigrants to neighboring Rockland County too, but the plan was thwarted by swift legal action from the county’s leadership.
Illegal immigrants sent by New York City sit outside the Crossroads Hotel in Newburgh, N.Y., on May 15, 2023. (Cara Ding/The Epoch Times)At the beginning of May, New York City Mayor Eric Adams started moving illegal immigrants to upstate hotels as weekly new arrivals in the city reached a historic high of 5,600 and overwhelmed its sheltering system.
Most had crossed the southern border illegally before making their way into the city with the help of Texas and the City of El Paso and were without housing or resources to care for themselves, according to the filing.
The city identified willing hotel partners upstate through a third-party contractor and bused volunteer illegal immigrants there, with cost of services, including lodging, meals, laundry, health care, and transportation, covered by the city.
While the hotel stays are paid for by the city, the illegal immigrants are free to leave the hotels at any time, according to a city representative at a May 16 court hearing.
“If they find their community, they are free to do that. They are in our care. They are not in our control … they are not imprisoned at the facility,” the representative said.
Ms. Shaeffer said that the unprecedented influx of illegal immigrants continues to this day, with a net increase in shelter population at over 1,550 per week between late June and early July.
Every week, the city needs an estimated 375 new beds as well as 385 new rooms to shelter new arrivals, according to a July status report cited by Ms. Shaeffer in the filing.
The city plans to build thousands of new beds in the coming months, but it will still fall short of about 2,000 beds by mid-October.
A multi-pronged approach is recommended by the mayor’s team to meet the illegal immigration crisis, according to Ms. Shaeffer, including lobbying for federal and state funding, helping illegal immigrants get work permits and live independently, seeking help from nonprofits, identifying upstate communities that are open to receiving the illegal immigrants, and working with the state government on relocations outside the city.