Rockland hotel in migrant standoff can reopen, but asylum seekers still can't come

Nancy Cutler and Asher Stockler, Rockland/Westchester Journal News
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A state Supreme Court judge has allowed the hotel at the center of a migrant-related standoff between Rockland and NYC officials to reopen to guests after the county had ordered it shut.

But other legal actions have put New York City Mayor Eric Adams' plans to shelter migrants at the Orangeburg hotel on hold. So the decision won't immediately impact Rockland's efforts to stop the city from using Armoni Inn & Suites to shelter single male asylum seekers who arrived in New York City from the Southern border.

Rockland County Executive Ed Day said the judge ordered that Armoni can operate only as a hotel for normal business and "cannot operate as a shelter as they were intending."

"Violation of that order could subject Armoni Inn & Suites and the City of New York to contempt of court,” Day said in a statement.

Rockland state Supreme Court Judge Thomas Zugibe's ruling Thursday to permit the hotel's reopening is temporary. The parties are expected back in New City at 2 p.m. June 14.

It remained unclear Friday if any residents had returned to the Armoni, a 171-room hotel off Route 303. The notice announcing the closure had been removed from the front entrance.

The county refused to renew Armoni’s expired operating permit last month after officials discovered it had let the permit lapse for days before applying for a renewal.

The Armoni Inn and Suites in Orangeburg, one of two hotels in Rockland and Orange Counties where New York City is pushing to place 300 migrant men to help manage the influx of migrants from the Southern border, May 8, 2023.
The Armoni Inn and Suites in Orangeburg, one of two hotels in Rockland and Orange Counties where New York City is pushing to place 300 migrant men to help manage the influx of migrants from the Southern border, May 8, 2023.

Absent that key permit, the county moved to close down the hotel under the sanitary code. Armoni, in the face of $2,000-a-day fines, kicked out residents who were already staying there.

The legal move was one of several mounted by Rockland officials as they worked to block NYC Mayor Eric Adams' plan to accommodate migrants in localities outside the city.

Armoni's lawyer, Todd Soloway, did not immediately return a request for comment.

Temporary restraining orders continue

Day and county Social Services Commissioner Joan Silvestri can provide the court with information to support their move not to renew the hotel’s permit.

While the ruling states the hotel can operate for now, that's "subject to the existing temporary restraining orders."

A notice on the front door of the Armoni Inn & Suites in Orangeburg, seen Thursday, May 17, 2023, states that operation of the facility is prohibited. The hotel had been one that contracted with New York City to house single male asylum seekers.
A notice on the front door of the Armoni Inn & Suites in Orangeburg, seen Thursday, May 17, 2023, states that operation of the facility is prohibited. The hotel had been one that contracted with New York City to house single male asylum seekers.

In a separate ruling, Zugibe kept a temporary restraining order in place, ensuring that for now NYC can't place asylum seekers in the Armoni. The town of Orangetown, where the hotel is located, continues to seek a permanent injunction.

Counties and towns around the state have issued temporary restraining orders that would ban hotels from renting space to New York City to shelter immigrants. Some of these municipalities did not have any facility within their jurisdiction planning to take in migrants.

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Meanwhile, a federal judge has begun hearing a lawsuit filed by the New York Civil Liberties Union on behalf of asylum seekers that calls those orders unconstitutional.

NYC's plan to move migrants

In early May, Orangetown officials were told about a plan by Adams to provide shelter for single male asylum seekers in a local hotel for up to four months. City-funded services would be provided. Soon after, town and county workers observed boxes with PPE and T-shirts that read "supervisor" and "supervisor social worker" being moved into the Armoni.

Pictures of T-shirts for social workers were included by Orangetown in its May 8, 2023, Rockland County Supreme Court request for a restraining order against the Armoni Inn & Suites, which was contracting with the City of New York to house immigrants for up to four months.
Pictures of T-shirts for social workers were included by Orangetown in its May 8, 2023, Rockland County Supreme Court request for a restraining order against the Armoni Inn & Suites, which was contracting with the City of New York to house immigrants for up to four months.

Outside the city, asylum seekers have been moved into hotels in places like Yonkers, Orange County and Albany County.

Within New York City, old schools, empty hotels and other facilities are being repurposed to house a swell of migrants landing there, some bused up from the border by Texas Gov. Greg Abbott. There are plans to use SUNY and CUNY college dorms to house migrants this summer.

Reach Nancy Cutler at ncutler@lohud.com; follow her on Twitter at @nancyrockland.

This article originally appeared on Rockland/Westchester Journal News: NYC migrant relocation: Rockland judge lets hotel in standoff reopen