Suburban New York hotel is latest symbol of immigration divide

NEWBURGH, N.Y. — Three miles from the nearest supermarket on an isolated street near Stewart Airport in Newburgh, several male asylum-seekers sat out in the sun mingling with news reporters from all over the world.

The calm scene Friday was periodically interrupted by drivers honking and yelling out expletives to anyone who will listen. Others from the community stopped to drop off donations. Like the country, the Hudson Valley community is divided on New York City’s decision to send three buses of male asylum-seekers to the area this week.

The Crossroads Hotel in the Town of Newburgh may be physically hidden from the nearby main road, but it’s now at the forefront of the country’s contentious debate surrounding what to do with the thousands of migrants crossing the southern border every day.

New York City Mayor Eric Adams has made it clear his administration is struggling to provide housing, food and other services for the more than 65,000 asylum-seekers that entered the city this past year. And with a federal border policy expired, it is not prepared to deal with the thousands more that are expected to come.

But his move to alleviate the strain on the city has angered Republican leaders in the Hudson Valley, creating a new political divide in a battleground region of the state and nation.

Rockland and Orange county executives have taken legal action to bar hotels from accepting asylum-seekers. The Town of Orangetown in Rockland has been successful thus far through retraining orders that the city is appealing. But Newburgh has not taken legal action, and the group of men were welcomed by local Democratic leaders and community organizations.

Orange County Legislator Kevindaryán Luján (D-Newburgh) said he and the county’s Democratic caucus have spoken out against the actions of Orange and Rockland county executives and plan to look into the legality of the counties' executive orders put in place to try to stop the migrants from relocating.

“It is disheartening to see some county executives politicizing this issue and treating these individuals like political pawns instead of human beings,” he said in an interview with POLITICO. “These asylum-seekers knew nothing of the political circus that surrounded their arrival, and I am glad we were able to receive them in a welcoming manner instead of retraumatizing them as could have been the case with the county executive's approach.”

Coming to find work

And while they don’t speak the language, the migrants inside the hotel were aware of the debates surrounding their arrival.

Felipe Cortez, 38, of Ecuador, said he understands that the locals fear having people they don’t know in their town, but said they are not looking to take anything from anyone — they are just looking for work.

“We have to be calm because people have ideas of who we are, but they don’t know us. Simply if they got to know us and see what each person is made of, they will change the mentality that they have,” Cortez said in Spanish.

“I understand that they are upset, and think we are invading them. This is a normal thing, I think.”

Cortez left his wife and three daughters, and his siblings at home to pave the way for a better life for them in the U.S. He said he arrived in New York with the help of a refugee center in Texas. They provided him with a ticket for a flight. When he arrived in New York, he connected with another refugee center that told him about the program to move to the Hudson Valley.

When asked if he thought the mayor sent the men for political reasons, he said they were sent because they believe they can contribute to the manpower in the area. Many of them are laborers — some in construction, welders or operators of heavy machinery.

“We are looking to work, and I think they were focused on that, and that is why they sent us here to this place, so that we can contribute here, because there are many of us,” he said.

He said he was promised resources and a place to stay while they wait for permission to work. He volunteered to come, and so did all the people he traveled with, he said.

Inside the hotel, many say there is medical treatment, food and money. They also have a shuttle that brings them to the City of Newburgh and the surrounding area several times a day. The city of Newburgh is considered a sanctuary city that is welcoming to migrants, but the Town of Newburgh where the hotel is located does not have that status.

Adams has indicated the city would pay their way for four months.

A political battle

On the front lawn of the hotel Friday morning, a 70-year-old woman driving a black Nissan hastily pulled her car into the parking lot and approached an asylum-seeker and a community advocate sitting out in the sun.

At first, the woman angrily denounced the spectacle caused by the arrival of what she called “illegal immigrants” to her town. The local grandmother had a long debate with Ignacio Acevedo, a Mexican immigrant who, years ago, entered the country the same way the man sitting next to him did. He now is working for the New York Civil Liberties Union as a Hudson Valley organizer assisting new migrants in the region.

The woman's viewpoint was similar to that of Republican leaders in the region.

“I’m just an old senior citizen who’s lived long enough to see that this is not fair, to them, to the country. The politicians need to step up, on both sides. It’s not the Democrats or the Republicans; both sides are guilty,” she said to Acevedo, but refused to provide her name.

Acevedo said he would like to remind the community that the migrants here are simply looking for a better life for their families and themselves. He said he’s felt the racism outside the hotel from people passing by assuming that he is a migrant himself.

“Everybody deserves a chance, everybody deserves safety, everybody deserves to feel welcome,” he said in an interview.

Genesis Ramos, an Orange County legislator (D-Newburgh) said she’s been appalled by the rhetoric county executives have been using surrounding the relocation of asylum seekers. Ramos had the chance to go inside and welcome the men personally.

“I completely denounce their xenophobic, racist and dehumanizing rhetoric,” Ramos said in an interview. “These individuals, their housing, their case management, their food, it’s all being funded by New York City. It’s not being funded by taxpayers."

Orange County Executive Steve Neuhaus said earlier this week that he simply wants answers and coordination with the city and state about who is coming to the county and when.

"The federal government and the city got to figure this crap out because who are these people?" he said. "Are they going to get citizenship? Can I get them jobs if they are coming up here? Are they going to be sitting in hotels?"

The city can legally move migrants to hotels if it pays for them, said Steve Acquario, executive director of the state Association of Counties.

“There are jurisdictional issues here between the mayor and the governor,” he said. “He has the law on his side to move individuals around the state, as long as he's paying for it.”

Still, Orange and Rockland counties are both fighting the city in court over the moves, and GOP Rep. Marc Molinaro said what the city is doing is illegal.

Molinaro, the former Dutchess County executive, said he is working with area Reps. Mike Lawler, a Republican, and Pat Ryan, a Democrat, to try to get FEMA support to help with the migrant crisis. On Friday, Gov. Kathy Hochul again asked the federal government for more assistance.

“The crisis is here, and it needs to be confronted with a coordinated and compassionate approach by the federal and state government,” he said in a call with reporters. “There is a solution to this, and it doesn't need to be partisan.”