BUFFALO, NY (WKBW) — A political battle is brewing in Erie County over what to do with the migrants the state wants to send to the Buffalo area.
More buses carrying asylum seekers from the southern border arrived in New York City this weekend.
More than 70,000 have arrived so far, some of them already spread across the state.
Now, an Erie County lawmaker is introducing legislation that would call on the county executive to declare a state of emergency.
This declaration would prevent these migrants from being sent here.
Republican Legislator Jim Malczewski says we don’t have the infrastructure in place to handle this situation.
The resolution will be presented on Monday.
On Saturday, Erie County Executive Mark Poloncarz released a statement saying he would not declare a state of emergency in Erie County.
He said, “Buffalo and Erie County have always been welcoming communities to immigrants. Over the past decade we have successfully assimilated thousands of immigrants into our community, many refugees from despotic lands. This is one of the reasons the great revival of many who had previously fallen. downtrodden neighborhoods in Buffalo.”
Right now, states of emergency are in effect in five local counties.
They are the counties of Chautauqua, Genesee, Niagara, Orleans and Wyoming.
This temporarily blocks New York City from transporting migrants to its counties.
The goal is to give them time to figure out how to integrate these people into the community.
