New City – Clarkstown Supervisor George Hoehmann today announced the discovery of a migrant flophouse in New City with nearly three dozen men, women, and children living in squalor in a three-bedroom cape cod in a suburban neighborhood. Hoehmann praised the town’s aggressive code enforcement operation and police department for their efforts and lauded Clarkstown’s code enforcement strategy as a model for the state.
Supervisor George Hoehmann stated, “Today we convened an emergency Town Board meeting to authorize the Town Attorney to go into New York State Supreme court to shut down a migrant flophouse that was discovered on New Hempstead Road in New City. Our code enforcement initiative, which was implemented when I became Supervisor, has executed over four dozen search warrants in the last 8 years. On Friday, we executed a search warrant at this location and discovered at least 31 migrants who came to this country through Texas to New York City. Our investigation thus far has determined that this is an organized effort that has brought these illegal immigrants and migrants to Clarkstown. This is a national security crisis and a humanitarian crisis.”
Hoehmann conituned, “This enforcement action is the worst our town has seen in history. There appear to be numerous building code and other safety code violations that could endanger the residents of the home and first responders who would have to respond to this location in the event of an emergency. We will vigorously enforce our codes and laws to keep residents and first responders safe. The conditions at this location are unacceptable and will not be tolerated.
Hoehmann convened an emergency town board meeting today to authorize town lawyers to appear in State Court seeking to evict the occupants and begin taking legal action against the landlord, Shloima Koppel of Monsey. The investigation into who is coordinating these movements of migrants is ongoing.
“I am proud to be working directly with Clarkstown Supervisor George Hoehmann, County Executive Ed Day, and our local elected officials to prevent the subversion of our laws here in Rockland County” said Congressman Michael Lawler. “Just last week, Supervisor Hoehmann and the code enforcement team in Clarkstown uncovered a 1,500 square foot home housing over 30 migrants. Obviously, these conditions are dangerous and unacceptable, but what’s perhaps worse is the intentional subversion of Rockland County’s status as a non-sanctuary county.”
“We are still determining how these individuals arrived in Clarkstown, and whether or not they were part of a clandestine effort by Mayor Adams to subvert the will of Rockland County and prior judicial decisions,” continued Congressman Lawler. “The restraining order filed today by Supervisor Hoehmann is an important step in putting a stop to this, and we are continuing to pursue all courses of action in order to resolve this matter.”
County Executive Ed Day stated, ““This is something that should be handled rapidly; it is a crisis. Instead, we see the gates open at the Southern border, buses traveling all over the country moving bodies around… there’s something wrong here,” said County Executive Ed Day. “The Southern border must be closed for a period of time until we can reestablish common-sense immigration again.”
Senator Bill Weber stated, “As elected officials, it is our job to keep our residents informed. It is impossible to do that when we’re being left in the dark and having to play catch-up.
Along with my colleagues in the NYS Senate , I have recently called upon Governor Hochul to call the legislature back to Albany for an extraordinary session to deal with this ongoing migrant crisis. I have also called upon Senator Skoufis to convene his oversight committee to get a full accounting from New York City of the One Billion Dollars that was allocated to them in this year’s enacted State budget to help them deal with the migrant crisis.
Like I’ve said repeatedly, Rockland County rolls out the welcome mat for immigrants, but we’re not going to be used as a doormat.”
County Legislator James Foley stated, “The inhumane and unsafe conditions these thirty humans were housed in demonstrate the criminal element is at work exploiting these people and ignoring Rockland County’s laws and wishes. I call on elected officials of higher office to take steps needed to immediately end the lawlessness movement of human beings. Rockland County does not have the power or means to correct this massive issue ourselves.”
