State of Emergency Issued in Rensselaer County in Response to Forced Relocation of Migrants by New York City
Rensselaer County has issued a State of Emergency following the disclosure of plans by New York City to force the relocation of migrants to counties upstate, County Executive Steve McLaughlin announced.
The State of Emergency was signed and issued by McLaughlin today (Tuesday) and is now in effect.
“This is a very disturbing situation and amounts to human trafficking from New York City into other areas upstate. As County Executive, I am sending the very clear message that Rensselaer County is not to be abused because of these misguided policies,” said McLaughlin.
“These are failures of the sanctuary city policy, and now, big city politicians want to have all of us pay the price for their misguided actions. We do not have the structure or the resources to take care of these people being forced out of New York City,” added McLaughlin.
The State of Emergency prohibits any municipality in the county from entering into a contract to house migrants and prohibits any hotel and motel from also entering into a contract to house migrants.
“We have all we can do to take care of people in need or facing challenges. Rensselaer County does not have the ability or resources available to care for thousands of additional migrants,” said McLaughlin.
McLaughlin had discussed issuing the State of Emergency on Monday following reports about migrants being relocated to Rockland and Orange counties. Both Rockland and Orange counties have issued State of Emergency declarations via the County Executives of each county.
“My conversations with other County Executives reveal that New York City Mayor Adams is not backing down from his plan and intends to follow through on contracts to move and house these migrants. The State of Emergency in Rensselaer County intends to stop those plans from taking shape here,” said McLaughlin.