CHEEKTOWAGA, N.Y. (WKBW) — There are a lot of opinions on the subject regarding asylum seekers in Western New York.
7 News heard from going to hear from lawmakers on both sides of the aisle, trying to brainstorm what can be done about the asylum seekers situation, now that a third incident has taken place.
Republican Erie County Legislator for District 8, Frank Todaro said his hands are tied.
Meanwhile, he said his phone has been ringing nonstop from constituents unhappy with the migrants stationed in their town.
"The constituents are very upset. No. It was never something they expected. Nobody actually had a plan of what was happening. I'm an elected official. I should know firsthand what's going on in the district and represent didn't happen. It only happened occurred when it was already that a bus was on the way from New York City to Cheektowaga," Republican Erie County Legislator for District 8, Frank Todaro said.
He believes the federal government should allocate money for the asylum seekers and not put the financial burden on local municipalities.
"There are children involved. Now. There's health issues. There is there's major concerns when it comes to the schooling now. That was one of my questions that I asked. Nobody had an answer. But here we are, you know, the answer is we're going to just force it upon the taxpayers now," Todaro added.
Democratic Erie County Legislator for District 7, Tim Meyers said, "I've been pushing. I've been talking to the school superintendents to see they don't have any numbers yet of what the costs are going to be because they don't know what kind of help they're going to need with language teachers, so on so forth, but we're trying to get that and try to push that to the federal government."
After Monday's flood at hotel in Cheektowaga, the asylum seekers have been relocated another hotel in the Town.
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Frustration begins to grow while litigation is still underway.
Meyeres shared, "As the Erie county legislator, I can't go into evict somebody and, you know, do this or that, you know, the courts have deemed that New York City has entered into legal contracts with these hotels, it's free commerce, you know, now we don't have to like it. But that's the facts of the matter."
