Suffolk County will hire a lawyer to pursue “any and all legal options” to block an influx of New York City migrants into the suburban community, local pols vowed at a contentious press conference Sunday.
Pro-migrant demonstrators repeatedly tried to shout down Republican county-legislature head Kevin McCaffrey as he announced plans for a special counsel to attempt to keep hundreds of Big Apple migrants from being bused to hotels and motels in the Long Island county.
“This is not an anti-immigration stance,” McCaffrey said over the constant taunts of the hecklers. “We recognize we are a country of immigrants. This is about the failed immigration policies of the federal government.
“We do not know who is going to be sent into this county, so we do not know what strain is going to be put on our partners in law enforcement.
“But we do know that [the county has] no way to provide for the food, shelter, medical or schooling costs,” he said, suggesting Dems President Biden and New York City Mayor Eric Adams were just kicking the can down the road.
Suffolk lawmakers said the reported $4.3 billion that New York City expects to ultimately spend on services and housing for the migrants through next spring is more than $1 billion above the entire county budget.
In a separate interview on MSNBC, Adams told host Jonathan Capehart that the White House and Democrats on Capitol Hill have to do more to help with the migrant burden.
“It’s time for us to sit down and speak with the president so that we can show firsthand how the impact of this crisis is undermining how we can your our function in our cities,” the mayor said. “This is just not sustainable for our city.”