Buffalo, NY (WBEN) - The Title 42 chaos has far-reaching implications, including in counties across the Western New York region.
As Title 42 expires and New York State looks at options for migrants seeking asylum coming into the US, three Western New York counties have issued states of emergency saying they can't handle the influx.
“New York City decided it would be a sanctuary city and welcome those who entered the country illegally and now that this ill-conceived policy has produced the predictable results, it appears state and city officials are looking to upstate counties to bail them out,” said Niagara County Legislature Majority Leader Randy Bradt. “We are not without compassion, but we simply lack the resources to do it.”
According to Niagara County Social Services Commissioner Meghan Lutz, the county is having a difficult time finding housing for the local homeless populations and shelters and other residential settings are nearly at capacity. “I simply cannot fathom how we could possibly address a large influx of individuals in need of shelter when we know for a fact that our partner agencies lack capacity to address our current homeless population,” said Lutz. “We cannot take on this burden.”
Emergency Services Director Jonathan Schultz said that the State of Emergency declaration prevents any hotelier from entering into a contractual agreement with any government outside of Niagara County, such as New York City, to house or transport migrants or asylums seekers without the approval of the Niagara County Legislature. The county can rescind the declaration at any time or renew it every 30 days.
Sheriff Michael Filicetti said there are both civil and criminal penalties for violating the emergency order, including a $2,000 per immigrant per day fine for any hotel owner who enters into a contract with New York City or New York State.
“We are not interested in turning hotel owners into criminals, but the emergency order is clear and we will enforce it,” said Filicetti.
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In Genesee County, County Manager Matt Landers says his county is at capacity when it comes to the homeless community. "We don't have a Genesee County shelter, so our Department of Social Services currently utilizes some motels. We actually do rely on the shelters to the east and west of us in Buffalo and Rochester, so given the fact that we are already at our capacity. The prospect of a bus showing up with 80 or plus individuals, was very daunting," says Landers. He emphasizes Genesse County is not shutting its doors, but he wants to have the ability to understand who is coming, hence the state of emergency.
Landers concedes he can't stop the governor from using state assets. He notes the governor's office has been in contact with him. "I understand fully that the city of New York and the state of New York are dealing with a very complex difficult issue, says Landers. "I just want to make sure that we're being pre-emptive and thinking ahead of and not waiting for the possibility of a bunch of individuals showing up at our door that we just cannot effectively serve." He adds hoteliers will also need to seek a permit to house asylum seekers during the state of emergency.
Landers notes putting asylum seekers on farms is a naïve suggestion. "The migrant workers that we do have currently here in Genesee County, our skilled labor, they are an extremely hard working group. They are a long term employee base and just because there might be a group that is south of the border that has been migrated in New York City, it is naïve sometimes for an average person to think I'll just go ahead and put them on the farm," explains Landers. He says local farmers agree with him.
The homeless population problem also exists in Orleans County, where Chief Administrative Officer Jack Welch issued a similar state of emergency. "We've seen an uptick in placements beginning in July of 2022. We had 45 placements in county and out of county, In April, we got up to 80, which is a 178% increase," explains Welch. He says this week, somebody came needing housing and the county was unable to locate any placement in county or out of county, and the person was released with a safety plan.
Welch notes while asylum seekers are technically entitled to benefits for the newest regulations from Office of Temporary Assistance in Albany, his county has no place to put them. The state has told him, right now it's looking at state assets to house asylum seekers.
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