County Executive Bruce Blakeman says Nassau is not a 'sanctuary county'

“Give me your tired, your poor, your huddled masses yearning to breathe free, The wretched refuse of your teeming shore.” Those words inscribed on the Statue of Liberty have served as a beacon of hope to those seeking a better life.

Since last August, nearly 100,000 migrants have arrived in New York City seeking asylum and hoping the words on Lady Liberty still ring true, according to the New York City Department of Social Services.

This massive influx over the last year has been debilitating the city’s resources and they have been struggling to keep up and respond. Roughly 200 migrant shelters have been set up across the five boroughs.

Queens borough president Donovan Richards believes Nassau County — the third richest county in New York, according to state figures — and the tenth richest in the nation, according to U.S. News & World Report has more than enough resources to help.

“New York City is doing more than its fair share,” Richards told reporters. “Unused or underutilized assets, like Nassau Coliseum, should be looked at by the state.” The coliseum, which is largely unused, could potentially house thousands of migrants.

However, Nassau County Executive Bruce Blakeman, says Nassau is not a “sanctuary county,” and will not be offering any hand or issue any emergency order in the crisis.

“If you invite people to stay over your house, and when they come over, you say ‘we want you to stay with our neighbor,’ is that fair to your neighbor?” Blakeman said inside the county’s Legislative building in Mineola on Aug. 17.

“If there are municipalities that want to invite migrants in, that is their choice. Here in Nassau County, that is not our choice,” he added.

Blakeman said the coliseum is not a site that can be used to house any migrants anyway due to its lease agreement with Las Vegas Sands. However, he stressed that it would not be offered regardless.

“There is no plan to house any migrants in Nassau County,” he said, “including but not limited to the Nassau Coliseum.”

Blakeman also cited “safety issues,” and said this would be a “burden on social services,” since the federal government has no program to reimburse the county and would cause an influx of new students to districts like Uniondale.

“It’s also a safety issue because the people that have been allowed into this country have not been properly vetted, we don't know who they are, we don't know what their background is,” Blakeman said.

Richards does not accept this and is refusing to stop fighting for these migrants and the city to receive additional resources.

“We shouldn’t get hung up and fixated on one site, we really need to be looking statewide at assets that are not being utilized,” he said in the Post. “We can look at locations across Long Island, as well as, look at locations upstate.”

But one thing that Blakeman and Democrats such as New York City mayor Eric Adams can agree with, is that they have both said the state and federal governments have “failed” the city, which according to City Hall, could spend more than $12 billion on the issue over the next three fiscal years ending in 2025.