Separating fear, rhetoric from reality: What Title 42's end really means for New Yorkers

Gov. Kathy Hochul's administration and several Hudson Valley communities have declared states of emergency in response to Title 42 ending Thursday, which officials expect to greatly increase the number of asylum seekers and migrants arriving to New York.

However, they've taken different approaches to the crisis as they anticipate a surge of people arriving at Manhattan's Port Authority Bus Terminal, where thousands have already arrived on chartered buses from the U.S.-Mexico border to New York City.

Outside New York City Hall Thursday morning, immigrant advocates blamed Mayor Eric Adams for planning to send hundreds of asylum seekers to Hudson Valley hotels without coordinating with local organizations and governments. In turn, they also said suburban Hudson Valley elected officials used racist and xenophobic language to describe people with a legal right to claim asylum.

“Let’s do the work together, not just them talking nonsense and lying about these vulnerable people,” Nelcy García De León, co-chair of the Rockland County immigrant rights organization, Proyecto Faro, told USA TODAY Network New York.

She was referring to County Executive Ed Day and U.S. Rep. Mike Lawler, two local Republicans who criticized Adams, a Democrat, for the planned move of asylum seekers to the Armoni Inn and Suites in Orangeburg.

Meanwhile, on Thursday, a Rockland judge temporarily blocked the city's attempt to transport hundreds of migrants to the Armoni hotel. Newburgh, in Orange County, signaled it would sue the city and seek a similar blockage, even as asylum seekers arrived in town.

Communities upstate took swift action Thursday in anticipation of asylum seekers showing up in their areas, even if there seemed to be no plans to that effect. In Oneida County, in Central New York, the county executive on Thursday issued an emergency order that will bar hotels and shelters from accepting immigrants living in the country illegally. Broome County, in the Southern Tier, issued a similar declaration.

On Thursday morning, Proyecto Faro and other groups that work with immigrants gathered in front of Spring Valley Village Hall to speak out against the divisive rhetoric and in support of the asylum seekers.

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What is Title 42?

The Trump administration invoked Title 42, part of a 1944 public health law, at the start of the COVID-19 pandemic to remove migrants, as well as people seeking asylum, as a public health measure. It became a key policy by former President Donald Trump, who championed a hardline approach to immigration.

President Joe Biden continued the policy before announcing in January his administration would end it. Thousands of people, many from Venezuela and other parts of South America, have massed at the U.S.-Mexico border awaiting the order to expire and make their legal asylum claim in the U.S.

The border will be chaotic, Biden said. However, once Title 42 ends, his administration plans to return to Title 8 of the Immigration and Nationality Act, which defined U.S. immigration law for decades.

Title 8 allows asylum seekers to have a credible fear interview with an asylum officer or in front of an immigration judge. The administration will use expedited removal of people who enter the U.S. without permission back to their home country or Mexico, and they can receive a five-year ban on reentry. People seeking asylum are expected to use the CBP One app to schedule appointments at ports of entry rather than irregular crossings into the U.S., Customs and Border Protection officials said.

New York braces for Title 42's end

On Tuesday, Hochul declared a state of emergency in anticipation of Title 42 ending. This allows an additional 500 National Guard troops to aid asylum seekers, as well as more funding toward shelter, food and health costs.

Since last spring, nearly 61,000 asylum seekers have entered New York City, city officials said. More than 37,500 asylum seekers are currently in the city's care, which includes shelters and more than 120 hotels. New York City is on track to spend more than $4 billion by the end of fiscal year 2024 to aid asylum seekers, Comptroller Brad Lander's Office has said.

Late Wednesday night, Adams announced an emergency executive order temporarily suspending city "right-to-shelter" laws to expand capacity for the expected influx of asylum seekers.

The city had planned to send hundreds of asylum seekers to two hotels in Rockland and Orange counties for up to four months to make space in New York City for more asylum seekers and migrants set to arrive, but that decision is now caught in a court fight between the city and the suburbs.

Last week, Day said the 340 asylum-seeking men set to be sent to the Armoni hotel weren't being vetted. Asylum seekers are making a legal claim to U.S. officials for protection from being persecuted in another country.

“We have child rapists, we have criminals, we have MS-13,” Day told WABC, making a reference to the Salvadoran criminal group that originated in Los Angeles.

A spokesperson for Day didn’t respond for comment Thursday.

“We’ve seen elected officials in the Hudson Valley reveal themselves to be small-minded and xenophobic by refusing to uphold New York’s reputation as a welcoming place for all,” Murad Awawbeh, executive director of the nonprofit New York Immigration Coalition, told reporters. “Immigrants and Latinos make up a significant part of the Hudson Valley.”

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NYC calls for more aid

City Council members, meanwhile, called for greater action from the Adams administration, as well as state and federal leaders, to establish housing options, legal services and social safety net programs such as childcare to get asylum seekers out of shelters.

“We need to show that we care,” said Councilmember Shahana Hanif, a Brooklyn Democrat who chairs the Immigration Committee, “and that we are not going to reinforce generations of undocumented people in our city.”

In communities such as Newburgh, many asylum seekers already arrived on buses from New York City, said Emma Kreyche, the director of advocacy, outreach and education for the nonprofit Worker Justice Center of New York, which has offices in Kingston. Many asylum seekers will likely settle in the Hudson Valley.

The region has a history of welcoming immigrants, she added, though the area suffers from chronic housing shortages.

“We can’t let the politics of fear take hold here,” she said. “We have to instead build resilient communities that are prepared to respond to humanitarian crises of all kinds.”

Reporters Nancy Cutler and Asher Stockler contributed to this story.

Eduardo Cuevas covers race and justice for the USA TODAY Network of New York. He can be reached at EMCuevas1@gannett.com and followed on Twitter @eduardomcuevas.

This article originally appeared on New York State Team: As Title 42 ends, what is New York doing for asylum seekers, migrants?