A state Supreme Court justice granted Dutchess County a temporary restraining order preventing New York City from relocating additional migrants to hotels in the county, including but not limited to the Red Roof Inn, where migrants arrived on Sunday. 

It's a legal strategy that was previously employed by Rockland and Orange counties.

The county sought the order to stop the city from transferring residents to Dutchess County. An estimated 86 individuals from New York City arrived at the Red Roof Inn in the town of Poughkeepsie on Sunday, according to Dutchess County Executive William F.X. O’Neil.

On Tuesday afternoon, he said he’ll still look to removing existing migrants out of the county, because he said the county cannot handle their housing needs.

O’Neil says New York City has kept them in the dark before, during and after the busing of 86 adult male migrants to the hotel in Poughkeepsie. “This is truly governmental malfeasance," O'Neil said. "And local counties are trying to wade through a mess that we did not create, but that we have to address the impacts of.” Officials from New York City has described their migrant situation as a “crisis.”

What You Need To Know

  • 86 migrants were bused from New York City to Poughkeepsie's Red Roof Inn

  • A state Supreme Court Judge granted Dutchess County a temporary restraining order, which would halt NYC from busing more migrants into the county

  • County Exec William F.X. O’Neil is also calling for Governor Hochul to make funds available to counties that will assist them in dealing with the potential need for these migrants to use social services

Labeled as a sanctuary city, Mayor Eric Adams says New York has received more than 50,000 migrants over the past year. Adams says the city received 5,000 migrants since last week, around the time Title 42, a Trump-era policy that turned away migrants seeking asylum in the name of public health, ended.

Federal officials say the influx of migrants warned about in a post-Title 42 world has not yet come to pass, with fewer entering the country than expected.

Aaron Narraph Fernando, the communications lead for grassroots advocacy group For the Many, says those who do seek asylum or shelter here in the U.S. are often leaving dangerous circumstances in the hopes of a better life.

“A lot of them just are don't want to continue to be involved in this," Fernando said. "They just want to work, get involved in the community and move on with their lives. And they don't want to be part of this game.”

Dutchess County migrants were originally housed in Sullivan County, but county officials in Sullivan say that the owner of the hotel they were staying was unwilling to accept conditions set by New York City.

The city then bused them from Liberty to Poughkeepsie's Red Roof Inn. A state Supreme Court judge granted Dutchess a temporary restraining order against New York City for the further busing of migrants into the county.

O’Neil says this isn’t stopping them from trying to move the migrants somewhere else.

“We don't have the housing," he said. "And so if we can find a way to move them out to where they can get that, that's what we'll try to do. And if it's a legal issue, it's a legal issue. I'm going to try and make it a discussion issue with the city if they ever come to the table to discuss.”

Fernando says lawmakers must push for immigration reform, because he said it’s clear the policies of the past are no longer working and that as more people look to come to America, efforts must be made to welcome them.

“People fleeing their home countries or trying to make a new life for themselves here, they should be welcomed," he said. "And it shouldn't be that, we came here, but now you can't come here because we're already here and we got our case and we're going to get it. But you can't have it.”