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As support services get to work, Albany County, New York City discuss next steps in migrant relocations

 The Albany Ramada Inn is one location where asylum-seekers are being housed.
Dave Lucas
/
WAMC
The Albany Ramada Inn is one location where asylum-seekers from New York City are being housed.

As thousands of asylum-seekers continue to arrive in New York City, the Big Apple and Albany County are finally "talking to" one another.

When New York City began moving migrants to upstate areas, county governments began taking steps to stop any resettlement efforts in their tracks, many County Executives, including Albany's Dan McCoy, issued states of emergency that New York City ignored. McCoy said offers to house migrants had been made to Capital Region motels.

Some of those offers were accepted and confusion ensued when asylum-seekers ended up in a Colonie motel, which happened to have an Albany zip code. Town officials immediately took steps to stop the flow. Then one bus and another arrived in the sanctuary city of Albany. McCoy says on Wednesday local leaders finally were able to connect with New York City via Zoom and Mayor Kathy Sheehan asked for a temporary stop.

"She asked for a pause before the new people came in last night at the Holiday Inn in downtown Albany," said McCoy. "So I think we're up to 175 from the 80 she had at the Ramada. So I think she wanted to pause to connect all services and stuff, so they can do it right."

McCoy says initially he was "unable to get straight answers" from New York Mayor Eric Adams' office but after the Zoom meeting, and being told to expect more migrants this week, he is hopeful lines of communication will stay open.

"We're going to have better dialogue," McCoy said. "They did indicate to us though, what they do is they get a bus and they get volunteers. They try to you know, try to see if anyone wants to come to Albany and once they fill that bus, that's when they ship it out. So unfortunately, I don't see that getting any better."

Adams’ press secretary Fabien Levy responded to a request for comment by email, explaining that the city is "in the midst of a humanitarian crisis" as the count of asylum-seekers rises to 72,000.

Sara Lowry, with the Albany office of the U.S. Committee For Refugees and Immigrants, says New York City is responsible for any of the costs associated with sheltering migrants in different cities. She adds those who have arrived in the Capital Region have been vetted.

"Everybody has a different story," Lowry said. "And I've only met with a few people. But I can tell you that everyone that I've met with and have talked to, the government is well aware of them, they have crossed over the southern border, that's correct. But they've met with ICE. They have check-in dates, which they are committed to keeping. They have no intention of, you know, falling out of compliance with their and check-ins with immigration. So the narrative that they are here and not accounted for not wanting to comply with their requirements is not true."

Meanwhile McCoy is calling for the federal government to step in.

"Everyone has a different story they're telling. And that's a problem. You got all these people that want to help but we're tripping on each other. And that's why we need a national plan, not just to fix the immigration to come here legally, which is broken, to fix what's going on around this nation," said McCoy.

About 400 people total are expected in Albany's “first wave” of migrants.

Dave Lucas is WAMC’s Capital Region Bureau Chief. Born and raised in Albany, he’s been involved in nearly every aspect of local radio since 1981. Before joining WAMC, Dave was a reporter and anchor at WGY in Schenectady. Prior to that he hosted talk shows on WYJB and WROW, including the 1999 series of overnight radio broadcasts tracking the JonBenet Ramsey murder case with a cast of callers and characters from all over the world via the internet. In 2012, Dave received a Communicator Award of Distinction for his WAMC news story "Fail: The NYS Flood Panel," which explores whether the damage from Hurricane Irene and Tropical Storm Lee could have been prevented or at least curbed. Dave began his radio career as a “morning personality” at WABY in Albany.
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