Albany County Republican & Conservative Conference Agenda
5/28/24
LOCAL LAWMAKERS DEMAND ANSWERS FROM MAYOR ERIC ADAMS ON MIGRANT RELOCATION PROGRAM
“It’s Déjà Vu All Over Again,” Say Local Legislators, “Residents Deserve Answers from Those Responsible for this Debacle”
ALBANY, NY – Members of the Republican and Conservative Conference in the Albany County Legislature today sent a letter to New York City Mayor Eric Adams seeking a complete and transparent accounting of his administration’s non-citizen migrant relocation program into local Albany County communities. It was one year ago today on Memorial Day weekend that New York City started sending hundreds of migrants to Albany County. The Republican and Conservative Conference last year proposed legislation to require those housing migrants to advise local governments and track migrant generated costs and services. The County Legislature rejected those bills along party lines.
“It’s déjà vu all over again in Albany County. Without coordination or communication to many local officials, our County recently received hundreds of new migrants, including school-age children, from our neighbors in Rotterdam. How long they stay and how much this will cost the local taxpayers is anyone’s guess. One thing is clear, however: whether it’s New York City, DocGo or anyone else, our residents deserve answers from those responsible for this debacle,” said Frank Mauriello, Minority Leader of the Albany County Legislature.
“In this day and age, information is power. How countless migrants were able to be relocated from the Southern Border to New York City to Rotterdam and finally motels, hotels and apartments in Colonie and Albany is a telling example of this. There was no coordination or communication, unless you count what we read in the local paper or saw on the cable news. Now the consequences may be enormous to local taxpayers, whether it’s education, healthcare or other social service costs. We’re still waiting for answers and accountability to last year’s Memorial Day weekend incident; it appears we will have to keep waiting, as many of my colleagues and I wonder how this keeps happening to one upstate County over and over again,” said Paul Burgdorf, Deputy Minority Leader of the Albany County Legislature.
Albany County has more than 900 migrants relocated from New York City, more than any other county in New York State outside of New York City.
In the letter to Mayor Eric Adams, Members of the Republican and Conservative Conference asked for an exact tally of how many migrants in the New York City program are located in Albany County, where they are by municipality and school district, whether they’re in hotels, motels, or apartments, and how the city will reimburse local taxpayers for local costs, among other questions.
The letter is attached.