NIAGARA COUNTY, N.Y. — New York City has dropped its lawsuit against Niagara County over its issuance of an Emergency Order that blocked the relocation of migrants to the county back in May.
The notice of voluntary discontinuance was filed by New York City, which just months earlier commenced legal action against Niagara County, accusing them of violating state and federal law by blocking efforts to move migrants.
In response to the lawsuit being dropped, Majority Leader of the Niagara County Legislature Randy Bradt released a statement that reads in part: "When we put the Emergency Order in place, we made it clear that we were not without compassion for migrants, but New York City’s plan to shift their burden to upstate communities like ours would drain limited resources, place a burden on property taxpayers and have an overall negative impact on our community."
Niagara County was among a group of at least 30 other counties that issued similar orders. New York City filed suit against all of them.
“Given recent events in our region related to the migrant relocation, from serious crime to increased and unexpected costs to school districts, we believe our concerns have been proven to be completely justified. That is why we are pleased that New York City has ceased its legal action," Bradt added in his statement.
The suit accused the group of counties of seeking to “wall off their borders” with “xenophobic” emergency orders.
New York City has struggled to care for the sheer number of migrants living in the city. As many as 100,000 have made their way through the Big Apple according to city officials.