UTICA  — Oneida County is issuing an emergency order to prevent local hotels and shelters from admitting migrants — some of whom are undocumented — who are sent to the county from New York City due to the county’s lack of capacity and resources.  

As Title 42 — COVID-19 restrictions that have allowed the government to quickly remove asylum seekers at the southern border — comes to an end, New York state and New York City have been left scrambling to prepare for an anticipated influx of undocumented migrants to make their way to New York.  

New York Gov. Kathy Hochul declared a state disaster emergency on the night of Tuesday, May 9, and New York City is planning to bus migrants who arrive in the city to upstate counties. 

New York City Mayor Eric Adams has already created a program to voluntarily move migrants to Rockland and Orange counties. Both counties have declared states of emergency in response.  

Picente convened a meeting on Wednesday, May 10, to discuss this plan. Oneida County Sheriff Robert M. Maciol, along with other county officials, were in attendance.  

Picente said that this was an issue that the federal and state governments have been aware of, but there has been no action until a few days before Title 42 expires, on May 11.  

He condemned the lack of communication from the state government, which has been an ongoing complaint of his. He said that county leaders and the governor’s office had a brief Zoom meeting on Tuesday, where the county leaders were only allowed to ask questions via the chat feature and could not engage in a conversation with the state officials.  

While he is not aware of any current plans to send migrants to Oneida County, Picente said the emergency order is a proactive step. He said during the call that bussing migrants upstate was framed as a last-resort measure.

“We’re a welcoming community, we are. We have done that. The Center and various areas in this community and cities have welcomed refugees, the right way,” Picente said. “But again, the failure of leadership on this issue in Albany is unbelievable.”   

Picente said he’d like to speak directly with Adams about how the county is also at capacity and cannot handle the arrival of more migrants. 

“We don’t have the capacity,” he said. “Just a few months ago, if you remember, we opened the doors of the county office building at night to have homeless people in the cold of winter stay here because our shelters were overwhelmed, our warming centers were overwhelmed and over capacity.”  

Picente said the county is already trying to address the homelessness issues, the opioid epidemic and the mental health crisis. 

“We are placing hundreds of families or individuals in hotels, in residences, in shelters, … we can’t take care of any more,” he added. “It’s not about being coldhearted, we are warmhearted. But again, a problem has been created on the national level, and now on the state level, in which nobody has a solution.”  

Picente voiced his concern about the lack of resources the migrants would be faced with upon their arrival in the county. 

“An undocumented migrant that comes is not entitled to Medicaid, not entitled to SNAP, not entitled to public assistance,” he said. “So what happens if they do come and get placed in a hotel? What do they do? How do they eat? How do they receive services? Whatever health issues they have, we don’t know anything about.”  

Picente said he will speak with the Board of Legislators to determine further action, and if a local law should be passed.  

Maciol said the community is welcoming, but it needs to be prepared.  

“We don’t have the resources, we don’t have the programs, we don’t have anything in place for them, we’re not prepared for this,” Maciol said. “If it were to be a hotel full of these families, and they don’t have resources for food, they don’t have jobs, no resources available to them, where does that leave us? I don’t know. And I’m very concerned.”  

Maciol also condemned the lack of prior action from the federal or state government on this issue. 

“It’s not fair to these folks coming to America, it’s not fair to the communities that this is going to be thrust upon, with no resources for them,” he said. “It’s a crisis, and the state’s turning a blind eye to it by passing it off to the counties. At the end of the day, my main concern is the safety of everyone in this community.”