Eric Adams rips Ed Day as ‘racist’ and ‘anti-Semitic’ after blocking asylum seekers from Rockland
Mayor Eric Adams ripped into Rockland County Executive Ed Day Thursday for blocking asylum seekers from heading to his district — as dozens of migrants arrived at an Orange County hotel just hours after New York City said it was temporarily backing off its plans.
“When you look at the County Exec Day, I mean this guy has a record of being anti-Semitic, his racist comments,” Adams said as he lashed out at the Rockland pol, without offering up examples of such remarks.
“His thoughts and how he responded to this really shows a lack of leadership,” Adams said of Day.
“I thought he was the Texas governor the way he acted.”
Hizzoner had accused the Lonestar State’s GOP Gov. Greg Abbott of trying to “hurt Black-run cities” earlier this month.
The mayor’s criticism came as a bus carrying about 20 asylum seekers from the Big Apple pulled up to the Crossroads Hotel in Newburgh, about 60 miles north of NYC, just before 10.30 a.m. A second bus arrived shortly after 12.30 p.m., unloading roughly the same number of migrants.
The Big Apple’s decision to forge ahead with the migrant buses came just hours after City Hall spokesman Fabien Levy said late Wednesday the plan had been paused — at least short-term.
Adams’ push to relocate the asylum seekers to Orange and Rockland counties this week has been met with fierce criticism — and legal action — from the top pols up there as they frantically sought to thwart the Big Apple’s plans.
Day quickly fired back, telling The Post: “The Mayor can call me every name in the book to deflect the reality of this former officer’s clear disregard for our laws.”
“Between his actions underscoring his belief that he is above local and state law, his disregard for State of Emergencies in neighboring municipalities, and ongoing deception to the State of New York, Rockland County, and most recently Orange County – which was blindsided Thursday morning after being told by Adams they were holding off with their plan – speaks volumes about the character of Mayor Adams,” the exec continued.
“I’ll do whatever is necessary to safeguard all the lives involved that this plan will without question endanger.”
Day, who issued a state of emergency for his county last weekend, had earlier threatened to grab Adams “by the throat” if he tried to offload the city’s growing migrant problem onto his tight-knit community.
The Big Apple was already forced to back down from plans to bus migrants to the Armoni Inn & Suites in Rockland County after a state judge on Tuesday granted local officials’ request for a temporary restraining order that prevents the hotel from operating as a shelter.
Orange County Executive Steve Neuhaus issued a similar declaration earlier this week that prohibits hotels, motels and other short-term rentals from accepting any migrants.
Despite the migrant arrivals early Thursday, Neuhaus insisted the Adams administration had assured him that no buses would be directed to his district without prior warning.
“Last night, both the State and City assured the Town of Newburgh and Orange County that no buses with asylum seekers would be here until further notice,” Neuhaus told The Post.
“The process has been a disorganized disaster and the blame lies with the Mayor of New York, who originally opened the door for as many undocumented immigrants as possible to his self-proclaimed sanctuary city, and the Governor. She has sat back and done nothing as this crisis has negatively impacted New York State.”
As the migrants stepped off the buses outside the Crossroads Hotel Thursday, they were greeted by a dozen immigration advocates saying “Bienvenidos.”
“We’re just here to make folks feel welcome,” Rene Majia, an organizer with the nonprofit ‘For the Many’, said.
“I know one of the narratives that’s really been pushed is that we don’t want them here. As someone born and raised in the community, and also a child of immigrants, I know how important it is to feel welcomed in the community and to be accepted.”
Not everyone was thrilled for the migrants to arrive in Newburgh, a city of nearly 29,000. When asked about the busloads of asylum seekers, an onlooker named Kevin told The Post, “God help this country. Once the faucet opens, it doesn’t close. One hotel today, another hotel tomorrow. This town is f–ked.”
Among the migrants was Wilson Yriarte, 40, of Bolivia, who volunteered to be bused upstate after staying in Hell’s Kitchen hotel for a week.
“I was talking to an agent. They said there were too many people in New York City so they said they have another place that we can go to,” he said. So that’s when my friend and I decided to take the opportunity and we came up with this group.”
Asked how long he will be staying at the local motel, he said: “They specifically told us four months.”
Meanwhile, Adams on Thursday vowed to fight all legal challenges put in the city’s way — as he insisted the Big Apple is now receiving an average of 500 migrants per day.
“We’re going to challenge all the legal obstacles that are attempting to be placed in our way,” he said. “It will set a bad precedent if someone is saying in the state of New York ‘you are not allowed to come here’.”
Hizzoner added: “You can’t use the courts to deny people to move around the state of New York.”
He insisted that the city had been communicating with upstate cities to help share the burden of asylum seeker arrivals — a fact the top pols in Rockland and Orange counties both disputed this week.
“We’re sending a quarter of 1% of what we have,” Adams said of the dozens of migrants the city was busing upstate.
“We’re paying for it, we’re only taking volunteers, we are communicating with the officials up there on what we’re doing,” he continued. “Now some may not like it, they can’t say we’re not communicating.”
Separately, the New York Civil Liberties Union filed a federal lawsuit Thursday against both Rockland and Orange counties for attempting to thwart the relocation of migrants.
“The two counties had issued executive orders barring hotels from making rooms available to migrants, in violation of the Due Process and Equal Protection clauses of the Constitution,” the union said in a statement.
“The four plaintiffs are migrants who sheltered in New York City and opted into a city-run program to relocate.”
It comes after Adams late Wednesday signed an executive order that lifts parts of the city’s emergency right to shelter law for asylum seekers amid the escalating crisis.
The order, in effect for five days, suspends parts of three laws that regulate how, when and where the Big Apple can shelter homeless families as the city expects a new surge of migrants after the federal Title 42 border policy ends Thursday.
Asked about the order, Gov. Kathy Hochul backed the mayor’s efforts “to manage, really, an untenable situation.”
“He’s taking unprecedented action but these are unprecedented times,” Hochul added.
Additional reporting by Carl Campanile
