Dutchess County granted temporary restraining order over New York City's plan to bus asylum seekers there
FISHKILL, N.Y. -- There's been another setback for Mayor Eric Adams' plan to relocate some asylum seekers to the northern suburbs.
A judge has once again ruled in favor of a suburban county opposed to the program.
In the past few days, New York City has moved 86 asylum seekers to the Red Roof Inn in Poughkeepsie, but it can't relocate any more after a judge Tuesday granted Dutchess County a temporary restraining order.
"New York City, we feel, has exacerbated this by accepting people, and when they realized they were in over their head, they began moving them to counties like Dutchess," said Dutchess County Executive Bill O'Neil.
With space increasingly hard to find in the city, the Adams administration began bussing asylum seekers north on May 12.
Rockland, Orange and now Dutchess Counties have all sought -- and won -- temporary restraining orders, enjoining the city from city from sending additional people.
Putnam County is evaluating its options.
"The failure to communicate with municipalities and the lack of transparency by the mayor's office has been infuriating for every county in the Hudson Valley," Putnam County Executive Kevin Byrne said.
Locals say despite assurances the asylum seekers have been screened, there are concerns about public safety and possible impact, short and long term, on local budgets.
"Resources are budgeted on the expected needs of our community. A sudden increase in the number of people in our community, no matter who they are, throws those carefully calculated resources into uncertainty," Town of Fishkill Supervisor Ozzy Albra said.
New York City has urged suburban counties to do their part and help house a small fraction of the many thousands of asylum seekers.
Facing opposition, the city is looking even further north, with plans to send asylum seekers to a hotel outside of Syracuse.