County Executive Ed Day, a Republican, has served as the chief executive of Rockland County, New York since 2013. He’s worked up and has issued a warning to New York City Mayor Eric Adams in response to the mayor’s announced plan to ship illegal immigrants north to be housed in a hotel in Orangeburg (in Rockland County) as the city’s shelters are filled.
The plan was announced Friday, much to the surprise of Day and other Rockland County officials.
New York City is running out of hotel space to turn into shelters for migrants, so now city officials are turning to the Hudson Valley.
The Armani Inn in Orangeburg is set to become the latest migrant shelter after the city cut a deal with the inn’s owners to house hundreds of migrants. But some Rockland County officials and residents who live in the area are not happy with the plan, and are wondering why they were not given any warning or say in the matter.
Up to 300 asylum seekers will be bussed up to two hotels, possibly as soon as Saturday or Sunday. In addition to the Orangeburg hotel, migrants will also be transported to a hotel in the Orange County town of Orange Lake.
Orangetown Supervisor Teresa Kenny (Orangeburg is a hamlet of Orangetown) said that Mayor Eric Adams called her Friday morning with the news.
“I actually said it point blank confirming you’re not asking for permission – you’re calling as a courtesy, and he confirmed that, yes,” she said. “It’s disappointing because we do have a lot of questions.”
Day has made it quite clear that he is not on board with Adams’ plan. Not only has he declared a state of emergency and stated that Rockland County police are “deployed” and “ready to react” if Adams follows through on the plan, Day has pulled no punches outlining his intended response.
“[Adams] never asked for an opinion, he just said, ‘Screw you, Rockland County,’ ” county Exec Ed Day railed to WABC-770 AM radio host Rob Astorino, referring to Hizzoner’s plan to ship 340 migrant men to local Rockland hotels to ease the city’s crisis.
“Well, here is my response,” Day said. ” ‘Mr. Adams, you can try to run us over, [and] I will reach up and grab you by the throat for the people of Rockland County.
“Within that cadre of people who are coming here, who are not vetted, we have child rapists, we have criminals, we have MS-13,” Day said. “There’s a reason why there’s a process.”
Accusing Adams of having the “utter audacity” to suggest the disruptive move and acting like “a bully” who blindsided Rockland with the plan, Day added, “At the end of the day, this guy [Adams] turns around and thinks that we’re just going to roll over.
“You are not getting away with this. You picked the wrong person to fight with,” the GOPer said, addressing New York City’s Democratic mayor.
Day, a former NYPD Commanding Officer, told WABC they were prepared to head Adams off at the pass.
“For starters, we are establishing a licensing requirement for all hotels,” Day said during his radio interview. “If these hotels are not licensed and approved by my office, they cannot function and operate. It’s a $2,000-per-day, per-immigrant fine. That’s almost $68,000 daily that we will levy.”
Day added that his ire isn’t about the migrants themselves but Adams’ failure to consult with Day or any Rockland County officials before making the decision.
“This is not about immigrants and about children and about being kind or being good,” he said. “There is a legitimate process to do that.”
Day joined Neil Cavuto Monday afternoon to elaborate on the situation.