Saratoga County on Friday became the latest upstate community to pass a preemptive emergency declaration that predicts a surge from New York City of those seeking asylum and other migrants recently arrived in the state and the country.
The announcement, made Friday evening without input from at least some of the county’s Board of Supervisors, did not say anyone new had been transported to the Saratoga area. Instead, board Chair Theodore T. Kusnierz Jr. cited “possible relocation and arrival ... from New York City.” The declaration says that public health and safety are “imperiled due to the immediate danger of an extraordinary increase” in undocumented migrants and those seeking asylum after the expiration earlier this month of Title 42, a pandemic-era restriction that allowed for the rapid removal of people who gained illegal entry to the U.S.
While saying Saratoga has “has long been and continues to be a welcoming and diverse community,” Kusnierz’s declaration continued, “this type of rapid population increase would overburden our social services, public health, emergency services and other departments that are already dealing with a higher volume of cases and workload than they have in years past.”
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The Saratoga County order lasts for five days and must be renewed to stay in effect.
Elsewhere upstate, Fulton County issued a similar emergency order Friday afternoon. Earlier declarations were issued in Greene, Onondaga and Sullivan counties. None cited any newly arrived undocumented people. Greene County’s declaration would fine hotels that accept migrants. Rensselaer County’s was declared May 9.
More than 71,000 asylum seekers have arrived in New York, mostly in New York City, and are being relocated throughout the state as an influx of migrants has been crossing the U.S southern border. For now, some are being housed in New York City school gymnasiums, and pursuant to an order by Gov. Kathy Hochul, the State University of New York system is evaluating all of its college campuses to determine whether they can house asylum seekers this summer, including the University at Albany.
Earlier in May, Hochul declared a state of emergency over the surge in migrants coming to New York. The declaration will allow state and local officials to expedite the distribution of funds from $1 billion provided in the recently enacted state budget to address the challenge that Hochul described as an “already large-scale humanitarian crisis.”
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Originally Posted by Anti Globalist
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