A pair of Republican pols introduced legislation in response to Mayor Eric Adams’ migrant relocation efforts that would bar housing migrants in public schools and would require the federal government to publicly report where these individuals are resettled.
Hudson Valley Rep. Marc Molinaro told The Post he introduced a bill Thursday that would prohibit public educational institutions including SUNY colleges, high schools, middle and elementary schools from being used as temporary shelters.
The former Dutchess County Executive’s current district covers Sullivan County, where migrants were transported to live in a hotel and then removed after the facility’s sketchy past was revealed.
The move was prompted by City Hall selecting several city school gyms as “respite sites” to provide short-term housing for migrants before finding permanent placement, infuriating parents and ultimately forcing the Adams to pull the plug on the plan.
Adams has struggled to handle the growing crisis, as City Hall tracked over 73,000 migrants arrived in Gotham since last spring.
But now, migrants account for at least half of the Big Apple’s homeless population — a staggering 44,700 individuals living in over 150 taxpayer-funded “emergency” shelters across the five boroughs and in now upstate New York.
The crisis is estimated to cost the city well over its current two-year $4.3 billion projected price tag.
Gov. Kathy Hochul recently stepped in to help by conducting a survey of locations on upstate SUNY campuses as the spring semester ends and students are away for the summer, leaving dorms empty.
She’s reportedly considering SUNY Buffalo, Albany and Stony Brook as possible sites, but wouldn’t confirm the locations during a Wednesday press conference.
“I’m fighting to stop Governor Hochul from using schools and colleges as shelters for migrants. Upstate New York taxpayers pay thousands of dollars to support our public education system. SUNY college students pay thousands of dollars for room and board,” Molinaro said in a statement.
“Our schools are not shelters.”
If passed, his “Schools Not Shelters Act” would ban localities from housing migrants in dormitory facilities unless the individuals paid the rate charged by the location.
Long Island Rep. Andrew Garbarino is sponsoring another piece of legislation that would require the federal government to consult with governors and mayors handling an influx of migrants before any funding resettlement efforts within their jurisdictions.
It would also require the Secretaries of Health and Human Services and Homeland Security to issue monthly reports to the Congress regarding any migrant transportation and relocation efforts.
The move comes after City Hall sparked outrage earlier this month when Rockland and Orange County found out Adams planned to send busloads of migrants to hotels in their upstate communities, after apparently running out of temporary shelter spaces within the five boroughs.
But over two years ago, The Post first reported on the Biden administration-funded charter flights containing migrants flown to New York in the dead of night two years ago to Westchester and Rockland counties.
Those relocation efforts stopped following the expose but were resumed in 2022.
Garbarino’s ‘‘Migrant Relocation Transparency Act’’ would also mandate at least a three-day heads given to local governments before non-citizens are sent via federally funded transportation and resettlement services.
It would also require a detailed accounting to be submitted to each impacted state with specifics on every new arrival including age, gender and country of origin.
“Tens of thousands of migrants have poured into New York as a direct result of the border crisis. Migrants have been dropped off at New York airports in the dead of night and bused up to New York City creating a tremendous stain on local resources, all without warning,” said Garbarino.
“To this day, the federal government has provided little to no information about the migrants they have relocated here or how they have been vetted.”
A rep for House Speaker Hakeem Jeffries, a Democrat from Brooklyn, did not respond to an immediate request for comment by The Post on the pending legislation.