Buffalo, N.Y. (WBEN) - It was a week ago Wednesday when Erie County Executive Mark Poloncarz laid out the preliminary discussions he had with New York State officials regarding the potential of housing migrants from New York City in Erie County and the City of Buffalo.
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According to Poloncarz, nothing was finalized between the county and state to house migrants from New York City, but there was the possibility of housing some individuals on the campuses of SUNY Buffalo State and the University at Buffalo.
In addition, any potential arrivals to Buffalo wouldn't come for, at least, a week, and it was unclear as to how many migrants would be transported to Buffalo and Erie County in the coming weeks.
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During a visit to Western New York on Tuesday, New York Gov. Kathy Hochul says discussions are still ongoing, and no plans are in place right now to transport any migrants currently housed in New York City to the region.
"There's no updates, only because we're still focused on where the people are coming in, keeping them and getting them settled in New York City," said Gov. Hochul while at the Center for Tomorrow on UB's North Campus in Amherst. "New York City's shelter system is overflowing, but literally Friday, we announced that we have repurposed a formerly shuttered prison in New York City, which will be opening up to house over 500 people. We're also looking at space at [John F. Kennedy International Airport], looking at a hanger there, waiting for federal approval. So we've been very focused on just serving all the state assets, and that would include SUNY dorms and shuttered psychiatric centers. Anywhere we can find space to help take some of the burden off of New York City and their shelter requirements.
"We don't have anything to announce. There's no announcement that individuals are coming to Western New York at this time."
Hochul says every state asset is on the list to be looked at when potentially housing migrants in Western New York. That includes dorms on the campuses of UB and Buffalo State University.
"We needed to do a survey and just see the timing. Are there already programs? Are there already students occupying the dorms over the summer? Obviously, that wouldn't make sense," Hochul said. "We needed some time to assess the viability of each location, and in those communities, are there hotels as a better option? So there's a lot of analysis going on right now. We just don't have an answer on what that's going to look like."
The Governor adds there is no timeline right now when it comes to making any decision or announcement on migrants arriving to Western New York.
Buffalo Mayor Byron Brown confirmed on Tuesday at this point, there are still no plans from the state for migrants to come to the City of Buffalo. However, he knows that if it comes to a point where New York City needs to transport some individuals to other parts of the state, Buffalo will be ready.
"We are a welcoming community, and we've indicated to all entities - New York City, Erie County, New York State, the federal government - that if migrants are going to come here, communication is critically important so that the city and refugee resettlement agencies can appropriately plan," said Mayor Brown on Tuesday.
Gov. Hochul is fully aware of Buffalo and Erie County's open arms approach with the migrants housed in New York City, and expressed how gracious they were in saying they can help out if necessary. She says the state's responsibility was to offer New York City various locations that could house migrants, and both the city and county have obliged.
As the state continues to assess the current migrant situation in New York City, there are some concerns across the state with a lack of coordination and communication between entities when it comes to individuals being transported and showing up to a region.
According to the Governor, conversations have been held about where else these migrants would go, but it's about trying to give leaders in other counties as much notice as possible when individuals will arrive.
"Given the scale, that number of people affected, it's not always going to be perfect," Gov. Hochul said. "I think it was 20 people who went to a hotel in Colonie, and now we have individuals with notice to the mayor, they've arrived in the City of Albany, it is going very well, from what we hear. So I appreciate county executives like Mark Poloncarz to be willing to support this effort.
"We just don't know whether the need is going to be there [in Western New York]. It's all about just preparing. A lot of people are saying the sky is falling before anything has even happened. The vast majority of these people are simply seeking legal humanitarian relief. They're here legally. They're absolutely here legally. They have a right to seek asylum in this country, based on what they've had to endure in their home countries. The vast majority, many, many are women and children, and my main priority is making sure that they're safe. But also getting the federal government to help us with the expense, with work authorizations."
Gov. Hochul adds the changes with work authorizations has been a huge focus for her administration to help these migrants. All she needs is the people in Washington, D.C. to make the changes.
"I have so many employers and farmers who are desperately in need of good workers. These people came here for work," Gov. Hochul said. "I've met a number of them, they simply want to have a chance to work and receive legal asylum. There's a great opportunity here, for upstate farmers, in particular. We have 5,000 farm openings today. I have 4,500 openings in hotels and restaurants in New York City. We have so much work to be done."
Once the work authorization issue potentially gets settled with migrants across the nation, Gov. Hochul believes communities all over New York State will benefit from migrants seeking asylum and, more importantly, seeking a new opportunity.
"Western New York as population, Buffalo's population would not have grown if it wasn't for the refugees who came here from places like Burma, Somalia and Thailand. They are now a part of the economy here. They're starting businesses, their children are in schools, and the next generation is going to be leading this community," Gov. Hochul said. "We've seen the benefits of this legal migration, and we want to just make sure we're ready. But there's just nothing to say right now, in terms of timing. If, and if, when?"