New York City is being sued by suburban and upstate counties for busing asylum seekers into their neighborhoods. Mayor Eric Adams retaliated in court on Wednesday.
Adams, encouraged by a federal court decision on Tuesday, filed lawsuits against 30 of the 57 counties surrounding the city for issuing emergency orders meant to prevent migrants from entering those counties.
Even though some counties have obtained temporary restraining orders in state court to stop hotels from working with the city to host migrants, the constitutionality of these orders has come under increased question.
Federal Court Remarked That Counties Cannot Prevent People From Relocating
In essence, the federal court decision on Tuesday held that counties cannot prevent people from relocating to different areas of the state.
In his complaint against the predominantly Republican counties from Oswego to Orange, Adams makes a similar allegation. The complaint claims, among other things, that Governor Kathy Hochul's May 9 proclamation of a state of emergency gives him the ability to relocate refugees outside the city, where 74,000 asylum seekers have entered the country across the southern border since last year.
Counties jumped on Adams' move as the lawsuit intensifies the conflict and rift between the city and the rest of the state.
Hudson Valley Hotel Owners Also Filed a Lawsuit Against 26 Counties
The city's lawsuit on Wednesday was the most recent development in an ongoing legal spat that pits Adams against his counterparts in the suburbs across the country. Last month, Orange, Rockland, and Onondaga counties filed a lawsuit against New York City, alleging that city authorities were trying to lodge migrants upstate in violation of the law.
A few weeks ago, a group of Hudson Valley hotel owners sued 26 upstate counties, along with a few towns, claiming that their local governments were succumbing to xenophobic and political interests.
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