County, village against any plan by Governor to house migrants here
Dan McClelland
by Dan McClelland
Rumors have been plentiful in the community in recent weeks about a plan by Governor Kathy Hochul to transport homeless immigrants north and house them in empty state buildings in the North Country, including some at Sunmount here. At last Monday night’s village board meeting, Mayor Mary Fontana said that wasn’t the case, at least for this county and this community.
School Board Vice President Jason Rolley attended the meeting briefly and when the public comment period opened he said: “I have been hearing rumors about migrants coming to Tupper Lake and I wonder about the official policy on migrants is in Franklin County and in Tupper Lake. Are we a sanctuary place or not?”
Mayor Fontana told him that Franklin County is not a sanctuary community that would open its doors to migrants and the village is following the county’s lead.
“So you are saying ‘no thank you’ to the Governor’s plan” to house migrants here? he asked her.
“Correct!” the mayor told Mr. Rolley, who thanked her for the information and left.
Trustee David “Haji” Maroun, who is a state correctional officer, said one of the Governor’s ideas to move migrants out of the now migrant-filled New York City was to move them to idle space in some of the state prisons, and particularly ones that have closed in recent years.
The mayor said she thought the Governor had originally listed Franklin County as “a sanctuary county.” She said some time later the county board of legislators made it clear it wasn’t.