The migrant crisis continues to be one of the most common concerns for Clarkstown residents.
The Town’s code enforcement and legal departments are engaged in a multitude of
investigations into illegal apartment rentals throughout the town. The safety of our residents, as
well as the migrants being housed in these makeshift conditions, is the Town’s primary concern.
In December of 2023, my office issued a town wide emergency executive order aimed at
preventing charter bus companies or any chartered vehicle from making unannounced migrant
drop offs at any location within the Town of Clarkstown. On February 6, 2024, the Town Board
unanimously passed a local law adopting the preventative measures covered by the executive
order.
We felt this legislation was necessary in Clarkstown after a similar executive order was issued
by New York City Mayor Eric Adams on December 27th, which restricted the entry of migrants
into NYC. The executive order issued by Mayor Adams was modeled after one already in place
in the City of Chicago. The intention behind both the New York and Chicago orders was to
reroute buses carrying migrants who entered the country illegally away from those cities, which
have both been overwhelmed with an influx of migrants. The Chicago order provided relief to
the City, but created chaos in its suburbs, who were overwhelmed with unannounced busloads
of migrants simply being dropped off, often with no place to go and no services available to
them. This created safety and security hazards for the impacted suburban communities, who
were unprepared and ill-equipped to handle these migrant bus arrivals. Seeing the chaos that
played out in the Chicago area, I was not going to sit by and watch this take place in
Clarkstown.
In order to prevent Mayor Adams’ bus rerouting from overwhelming Clarkstown, the new local
law bans charter vehicles from making unannounced migrant drop offs at any location within
the Town of Clarkstown and gives the Town the ability to issue penalties of $750 per person
illegally dropped off, plus impoundment of any vehicles used with related costs and fines. The reason the law is needed is simple: local governments like Clarkstown are not equipped to handle these migrant arrivals.
This action follows numerous other code enforcement actions taken by my administration to
prevent illegal housing conversions and rentals to migrants, as well as preventing NYC from
housing migrants in Clarkstown hotels.
Our message is clear: Clarkstown will not allow Mayor Eric Adams to potentially reroute
countless numbers of migrant buses into our community when we do not have the resources or
the ability to process even a single busload of unannounced migrants. The town will vigorously
enforce this order to ensure that we protect our residents and prevent these migrants from
ending up being illegally housed in overcrowded, unsafe, subdivided firetraps.
I urge everyone, if you see something, say something. You are our eyes and ears on the
ground. If you see suspicious buses or vehicles, call the town immediately. In emergency
situations call 9-1-1. Non-emergency calls can be placed to the general dispatch number for the
Clarkstown Police Department at 845-639-5800.
