Letter Editor: Local lawmakers should take note

Dear Editor,

Immigrants’ Rights Litigation at the New York Civil Liberties Union have received a federal judge ruling dated June 6, 2023 that the States of Emergency declarations by Rockland and Orange counties to prevent New York City from renting rooms there for some of the asylum-seekers who have arrived in the city are unconstitutional.

U.S District Court for the Southern District of New York, Judge Nelson S. Roman granted the New York Civil Liberties Union’s motion for preliminary injunction, barring the counties from enforcing their executive orders targeting recently arrived immigrants. Though there are more than 30 counties and towns north of New York City which have issued their own emergency orders barring New York City from housing migrants as have Rockland and Orange Counties, Amy Belsher, director of Immigrants’ Rights Litigation at the New York Civil Liberties Union said, “There’s no automatic effect on any of those counties because our challenge was just to Rockland and Orange.”

Tioga Legislatures should take note and continue to hold their own counsel on this overreach by the Federal courts until the current Administration follows and enforces the current laws of Legal Immigration and due process.

Sincerely,

Florence Alpert

Candor, N.Y.