Town of Riverhead extends state of emergency over migrant housing concerns
The state of emergency bans all facilities - including hotels, motels, homeless shelters, cottages and other transient lodging units - from accepting migrants in the Town of Riverhead.
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A state of emergency that had been put in place in the Town of Riverhead has been extended over migrant concerns.
Riverhead Town Supervisor Yvette Aguiar declared the state of emergency in May in connection to undocumented migrants and/or asylum seekers expected to be coming to hotel or motels within the town.
The state of emergency bans all facilities - including hotels, motels, homeless shelters, cottages and other transient lodging units - from accepting migrants in the Town of Riverhead.
In addition, the order states that any facility in the Town of Riverhead that houses those who are homeless refrains from displacing individuals with no confirmed permanent housing for the purpose of providing shelter to other people.
The town supervisor says they do not have the infrastructure to support so many additional residents.
The influx of migrants is related to the expiration of Title 42, which, due to the pandemic, allowed border authorities to stop migrants.
In May, Aguiar told News 12 that New York City Mayor Eric Adams sent out an advisory communication to all housing facilities in Suffolk County to accept the individuals, and that the city would pay for their housing for up to a year and sign contracts with facilities that agreed.
