Orange County executive awaits judge decision on restraining order to halt migrant transportation
As dozens of migrants check in to Orange County, New York hotels, the county’s executive has sued to stop the immigration surge after watching Veterans get kicked out for migrant vacancies.
"We're waiting, hopefully, today to get a temporary restraining order from the Supreme Court. We're in front of a judge right now, we're waiting for her to make a decision which would help us, but we are really on our own," Orange County Executive Steven Neuhaus said on "Varney & Co." Monday.
"But it is a tough situation," he continued, "and unfortunately, we're seeing people like our Veterans kicked out of the hotels in exchange for homeless migrants in New York City."
According to the Orange County official, state police and the sheriff’s office have continued to uphold the migrants’ emergency declaration, but ordered them to "run to hotels." In response, Neuhaus filed a restraining order directed at New York City Mayor Eric Adams’ migrant transportation plan and the hotels housing them.
The community’s greatest concern, he argued, is the lack of information and transparency from the mayor’s office.
"We have no information [on] who these people are. Do they have IDs? Have they been Vetted? My community is up in arms about this," Neuhaus said. "And really, we're getting zero answers from New York City."
"They give us no information. And [from] the emergency management side of the house, it is completely disturbing and it's very frustrating," the executive added. "We expect that relief coming from the judge, hopefully, in the next day."
Earlier Monday on "Fox & Friends First," New York State Assemblyman Brian Maher, R., slammed the Biden administration and New York officials for allowing Veterans to get booted from hotels.
"So the Biden administration, Governor Hochul, and the city of New York, they all have a part in this, and it's a total embarrassment," Maher told co-host Joey Jones. "It's a slap in the face to Veterans, to citizens of New York in this country, who are really being cast aside to allow for asylum seekers to come here."
"At the end of the day, when it comes to this particular situation, you had combat Veterans who were homeless, who were told to get out of their hotel," Maher also said. "After one day, Sharon and her team scrambled to find them locations, and right now, what we've tried to do is let those Veterans know we appreciate them. We're embarrassed by what's happened to them, but we have their backs."
New York City taxpayers are allegedly footing the bill for the migrants’ hotel stays, Neuhaus claimed.
"The governor passed $1 billion in spending for this immigration crisis. So I think that's why this all started: as soon as that passed, New York City started booking rooms upstate New York," the executive said. "So I think they're going to try to get part of that money and use that to reimburse it."
There were reportedly 20 Veterans who were told they would no longer receive temporary housing at the hotels – 15 of those former service members were at the Crossroads Hotel in Newburgh, Orange County.
This is the same hotel migrants arrived at last week in what was New York City Mayor Eric Adams' attempt to alleviate the impact of the southern border surge on the Big Apple's already-strained resources.
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