Lt. Gov. Delgado comes to Rochester for hate prevention meeting, talks housing for migrants

ROCHESTER, N.Y. — New York City has seen a recent surge of migrants from the southern border after the end of the Title 42 immigration policy.

Lt. Governor Antonio Delgado was in downtown Rochester Wednesday afternoon and spoke about how the migrant crisis will impact other parts of the state.

State and County leaders are addressing the migrant crisis. Gov. Kathy Hochul is considering looking at SUNY campuses and other state assets to house migrants.

“It’s kind of stupid. We can barely take care of everybody here and she’s willing to bring in people from other countries or other places to take care of them. That doesn’t seem right,” said community member Melissa Montagliano.

There are others who disagree and believe we should welcome migrants to our area.

“Everyone needs a home, and everyone needs somewhere safe to be and if that means at a SUNY campus and these people have shelter, a roof over their head, then I would be all for it,” said community member Julia Dinitto.

Lt. Governor Antonio Delgado was in Rochester for a meeting with community members to kick off a hate and bias prevention meeting.

News10NBC’s Marsha Augustin: “Do you believe that’s what many of the migrants here are facing?”

Delgado: “It’s a complicated situation that we’ve been dealing with for decades at the federal level.”

Augustin: “We’ve heard that there are three SUNY campuses that may be considered to house migrants. Can you confirm that and if so, what are the campuses?”

Delgado: “I can’t confirm that. I can only say the Governor is considering all options. I know that we are talking with the white house and trying to make sure to the extent that there are options, federal property that we can utilize.”

The Monroe County Executive expects to see a surge locally too.

“These are human beings. We can’t just drop people off at a parking lot at a hotel and hope for the best,” Adam Bello said.

Bello’s Emergency Order requires any hotel or shelter to submit a plan to the Department of Human Services. That plan must then be approved before it can house migrants.

“This prohibits hotels from contracting with other municipalities, whether that be states or cities, to house people without first submitting that plan to the Department of Human Services. So, our commissioner of Human Services would review that plan and sign off on what those plans are,” Bello said.

Allison Kirsch believes housing migrants is the right thing to do and if the State and County can do it, they should.

“I think that we should welcome them with open arms and hearts, there’s a lot of possibilities,” Kirsch said.

RELATED:

• Monroe County issues emergency order in response to migrant crisis (May 24)
• Rochester mayor: We haven’t been asked to take in migrants and asylum-seekers (May 20)
• Niagara, Chautauqua, and other counties declare state of emergency due to migrant crisis (May 19)
• As counties ban asylum-seekers and migrants, the governor welcomes them here (May 18)
• Orleans County issues emergency order; Governor looks to SUNY colleges to potentially house migrants (May 17)