Immigrants arrive in Yonkers: City seeks help, pledges support for families sent from NYC

YONKERS - A local hotel is now housing 38 individuals in 15 families, relocated from New York City, sent there from Texas after crossing the Southern border seeking asylum. How many more will come? Mayor Mike Spano said Tuesday that he didn't know for sure.

But when they do, like the people who arrived around 9:30 p.m. Monday, Yonkers will help. “Now they are here and we will be very good neighbors,” Spano said Tuesday morning during a press conference.

It remains unknown how many families will be sent to Yonkers and how many people could be in each family.

Spano said had heard 100 families might come, then 50. The Ramada has 100 rooms, he said, so that's part of his calculations in determining how many families may ultimately arrive. "It's a moving target."

On Monday night, families arrived in buses to the Ramada on Tuckahoe Road. Parents held sleeping children while others carried backpacks and bags. They were greeted by people inside who seemingly were there to welcome them.

No police or city officials were present.

What about schools?

Spano said Tuesday that NYC officials told him they were aiming to send families to Yonkers whose children are below school age. But “the operative word is ‘aiming,’" Spano said.

Any child is entitled to a free and appropriate public education in New York, with school attendance compulsory for all children between 6 and 16.

Yonkers facilitates placements in pre-K and "three-K" programs for any family who wants it.

Yonkers schools Superintendent Edwin Quezada said Tuesday said the district would have to be prepared to provide for the children's academic and social-emotional needs, as well as to figure out if more building capacity is needed.

"Remember what they have dealt with," Quezada said of the families who likely fled dangerous situations in their homelands and embarked on what is often a perilous journey.

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Spano said it's likely the children, who would be English language learners, could have special education needs and/or lack formal schooling.

Yonkers school officials had earlier said they prepared welcome packets for any new students who arrive. They added that newly arriving students aren’t unusual for the district.

Quezada said New York City and the New York State Department of Education needed to provide support to the school district, which constantly struggles with funding.

And, he said, the district should be prepared to provide adult education for the new arrivals "to become active members of the community."

Spano said the city is concerned about costs from any new arrivals' healthcare needs and the need for added responses from first responders and social services, but he said "the Big Kahuna could be education."

'Only be sent to poor communities?'

Spano said that he's been in touch with New York City officials and anticipated more interaction with the governor's office.

What people arriving now need, he said, is support. But so does Yonkers' city government.

Spano pointed out Yonkers' $1.4 billion budget is roughly "1/80th" of New York City's. Yonkers is currently in the midst of budget negotiations, Spano noted, so he and the City Council are figuring out what they may need to do to ensure any extra healthcare, social services or educational needs would be included.

Spano questioned whether Yonkers would take on more of a burden to house new immigrants. He said when he asked state officials where else individuals were being sent in Westchester, "I got, 'Westchester is so expensive.' "

"Does that mean that families will only be sent to poor communities," he posited to the assembled press and livestream audience.

Westchester County Executive George Latimer had previously said that he was unaware of other plans to send asylum seekers to Westchester beyond the families slated to be housed in Yonkers.

New York City government, in Rockland and Orange counties' relocation plans, had pledged support for relocated asylum seekers for four months, including providing housing and meals

'We are also a migrant city'

Spano said, even with the challenges, Yonkers would support newcomers, as the city always has.

"We are also a migrant city," he said.

Spano said he expected NYC Mayor Eric Adams and Gov. Kathy Hochul to ensure that Yonkers received the financial help it would need to serve the new immigrants.

Anything less, he said, would "not be fair to refugee asylum seekers and not fair to the residents of the City of Yonkers."

Meanwhile, Latimer had said county police could help bolster security for municipalities where asylum seekers are temporarily housed. He also said the county would help with translation services, transportation and recreational opportunities.

Those moves, Latimer said, could help ease residents’ concerns. But he said it would likely not placate those whose fear is “baked into an ideological cake.

“Are we ready to lead and solve problems,” Latimer asked, or just focus on “whipping up anger?”

Photojournalist Seth Harrison and reporter Diana Dombrowski contributed to this report.

This article originally appeared on Rockland/Westchester Journal News: Immigrant families arrive in Yonkers as Spano asks NYC, state for aid