A proposed New York State law prohibits housing migrants in schools outside of New York City

Albany, New York – Any public school district outside of New York City would not be required to lodge migrants under a proposed state law.

Asm. Michael Durso, a Republican from Massapequa Park, introduced the bill, known as A09184, last month. The law prohibits housing migrants in school buildings or on school property, either temporarily or permanently, unless it is in a city with a population of one million or more.

There are no other cities in New York State with as many people as the Big Apple. Crisis in the Classroom (CITC): According to Asm. Durso, the purpose of the measure is to shield smaller schools from “having to bear the burden” of the U.S. government’s “failed immigration policies.”

“When New York City claimed to be a sanctuary city, it invited unvetted migrants from around the world to our metro area and New York State,” Asm. Durso said. “School districts, students and taxpayers … should not have to tolerate overcrowded classrooms and skyrocketing school budgets because of failed policies from the federal government and New York City.”

Beyond New York City, school systems in suburban areas and smaller communities around the state are now accepting a larger number of kids as a result of the continued migrant surge. Just a few weeks before the first day of classes, the Mohonasen Central School District in the Capital Region was informed in August that 71 school-age children would be enrolled in its classrooms.

At the time, Assemblyman Angelo Santabarbara, a Democrat from Rotterdam, expressed his displeasure, claiming that families in his area ought to have been informed “a long time ago.”

Now, they may have thought they were all set for the beginning of the school year, now, they’re scrambling to figure out what they’re going to do because they’re going to be required to take in more kids than they were not planning on,” Asm. Santabarbara said.
In September of last year, the Rochester City School District welcomed almost fifty new immigrant pupils. According to officials there, in order to make sure they could interact with families at the time, they brought in translators who spoke Arabic, Somali, and Spanish.

Following the overnight relocation of over 2,000 migrants from a humanitarian shelter to a Brooklyn high school, which resulted in the school having to go remote, NYC officials were embroiled in controversy in January. Concerns that the climate-controlled tents at the humanitarian shelter would not be able to resist anticipated storms led to the use of the school as an emergency “respite center”.

Parents were incensed by the move, with some voicing worries about possible effects on students’ academic performance. In an interview with “Good Morning America” that week, NYC Mayor Eric Adams justified the choice, saying the city “did the right thing.”

“Those parents who are stating that we can’t inconvenience someone for one day because of other children… that’s not acceptable, and I’m not going to put children in harm’s way,” Adams said.