Rockland Enacts New Emergency Order Over Migrant Crisis

Rockland County Executive Ed Day has signed a new Emergency Order in response to the City of New York’s discriminatory program to establish unlawful city shelters in Rockland County.  

As written in Emergency Order No. 2, “the City’s program is the very definition of bad government policies and at least in the case of Rockland County, attempted to operate in violation of the rule of law.”

“It is my duty to protect the general welfare of anyone in the County or coming to the County both long term and short term,” said County Executive Ed Day. “This County already has a housing crisis so extreme that Rockland has been unprecedently deputized by the State of New York to take over Building and Fire Code enforcement in the Village of Spring Valley. Sending busloads of people to this County that does not have the infrastructure to care for them will likely result in a one-way bus ticket to homelessness.”

As a matter of law, each public welfare district is responsible for the assistance and care of any person who resides or is found in its territory including New York City. This new order bars other municipalities from establishing shelters in Rockland and prohibits them from foisting their own policies, costs, and responsibilities on this County.

“This order’s sole purpose is mandating good and responsible government,” explained County Attorney Tom Humbach. “It regulates that government operates within existing laws, makes policies that reflect the best interests of the electorate, and supports those who are new to the County as well as those which have been here for some time.”