'We just lost that trust': Homeless veterans evicted from NY hotels to make way for migrants
NEW YORK CITY, NEW YORK: The foundation that assists homeless veterans have reported that approximately two dozen of them were evicted from hotels in upstate New York to make room for migrants.
The ex-military individuals, which included a 24-year-old Afghanistan veteran, were given notice earlier this week that their temporary housing was being taken away. They were told that they needed to find new accommodations, as reported by New York Post.
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'We just lost that trust'
Sharon Toney-Finch, the CEO of the Yerik Israel Toney Foundation, who herself is a disabled military veteran told the publication that the veterans were originally set to temporarily stay at the three hotels for up to four weeks until permanent housing for them could be found. However, they were given the boot after just two weeks. “Our veterans have been placed in another hotel due to what’s going on with the immigrants,” said Toney-Finch.
The crisis comes as Title 42, the immigration restriction order expires. The booted veterans have now ended up at a Hudson Valley hotel about 20 minutes away. The Crossroads, Super 8, and the hotel where the vets are now staying are quiet on the matter.
A lot of them are Vietnam veterans
This is apparently because vets are left nowhere to go as Finch voiced in her concern that they have "lost that trust." “Now we have to work from ground zero. We just lost that trust." She said a lot of them are Vietnam veterans and that they help them on a constant basis to get them benefits and help them find a place in society.
State Assemblyman Brian Maher, a Republican who helps represent Orange County, said, “Shining a light on this is important because we need to make sure these hotels know how important it is to respect the service of our veterans before they kick them out of hotels to make room.” He added, “They really ought to think about the impact on these people already going through a traumatic time."
Maher said, “Whether you agree with asylum-seekers being here or not, we can’t just ignore these veterans that are in our charge that we are supposed to protect the New Yorkers and Americans.” Even though the hotels haven't specifically stated that the boot was sure to migrants, Finch feels that the timing was revealing and that hotels were doing it to gain financial leverage. This report claims that the city is paying for each migrant.
The city is paying Big Apple and Manhattan hotels $190 a night
“That’s so unfair because, at the end of the day, we are a small nonprofit, and we do pay $88 a day for a veteran to be there,” Toney-Finch said. While it’s unclear what the city is paying upstate, the outlet cites that various reported deals have been made between the Big Apple and Manhattan hotels that have called for payments such as $190 a night - part of an estimated $4.3 billion migrant price tag for taxpayers through spring 2024.
The report stated that Mayor Eric Adams began bussing migrants flooding the city to The Crossroads on Thursday, which spurred a vicious war of words between Adams and officials in Orange and neighboring Rockland County, where the mayor has also threatened to bus migrants - until a lawsuit at least temporarily blocked the move.