CHEEKTOWAGA, N.Y. — Two local hotels that currently house migrants will soon be vacated.
2 On Your Side's Chelsea Swift spoke with the Cheektowaga town supervisor about the transition. Brian Nowak said that as soon as next week, about 250 migrants will be vacated from two hotels in Cheektowaga.
"There are a lot of folks that have strong opinions on this issue, and it's just to show the public that were listening to them and working on the issues that they care about," Nowak said.
The town board approved a resolution earlier regarding the issue on Tuesday. If asylum seekers are not vacated from two hotels on Genesee Street by Dec. 31, the town attorney will take action.
Nowak says earlier this month DocGo provided an update, saying that they are on track to getting migrants out of hotels in Cheektowaga.
"We're looking at about 250 to 260 individuals. The numbers might be lower than that at this point," Nowak said. "There had been folks leaving because they're getting temporary working permission, or they're finding housing somewhere else in the community, but they've left the hotels voluntarily."
Nowak said he believes the zoning code need to be enforced at these hotels, and they need to return to their original use.
"These are folks that have legal status to be in this country until their asylum hearing, so that's one issue. The issue that the town has here is that they can't be in those buildings, and they can't be in any of those hotels," Nowak said.
"If we get to January 1 and have that issue, it means we go back in front of a judge, and we say, 'Take a look at the order, and we're looking to enforce this.' "
2 On Your Side reached out to Jewish Family Services, the group facilitating this transition, but did not immediately hear back. We also reached out to the New York City mayor's office for updated numbers.