FISHKILL – In a special meeting of the Fishkill Town Council on Friday, the board voted unanimously to make it illegal for hotels in the town to participate in the New York City Migrant Relocation Program. The town will pursue criminal prosecution against any hotel that disobeys the wishes of the town board.
The board, according to Town Supervisor Ozzy Albra, is also protesting to the Governor, State Legislature, and the City of New York for allowing the sheltering of migrants in Hudson Valley communities.
Albra is a proclaimed first-generation American and says his parents migrated from Europe, “One of whom was granted asylum here”. In denouncing the relocation plan, Albra said “The duty to process and assimilate these individuals and families in an orderly manner, is the responsibility of the federal government, and not local or regional entities”.
The new resolution says, in part:
WHEREAS the Town of Fishkill has enacted a Zoning Code to promote and preserve the health, safety, and welfare of the Town’s residents and property owners; and
WHEREAS, under the Town’s Zoning Code hotels are commercial enterprises in which a building and related facilities are used to provide short-term transient boarding to paying guests; and
WHEREAS, the use of hotels in the Town of Fishkill as migrant shelters or dormitory facilities is a violation of the Town of Fishkill Zoning Code;
WHEREAS, violation of the Town of Fishkill Zoning Code is illegal activity which subjects the perpetrator to both criminal prosecution and civil liability; and
WHEREAS, the illegal use of hotels or other facilities in the Town of Fishkill as a shelters or dormitory facility for hundreds of illegal immigrants would cause irreparable harm to the Town and its residents due to the overextending of the Town’s central services and the cost imposed on the local taxpayers;
The resolution also says that every hotel in the town will receive a certified copy of the new law informing them that it is illegal to use their hotels as shelters or dormitories and they will face criminal prosecution and subject them to civil liability.
