BUFFALO, N.Y. (WKBW) — It’s been a year and a half since New York City began sending busloads of migrants to Western New York amid a massive migration influx.
Now, New York City’s contract with DocGo, a controversial contractor in charge of sheltering and feeding the migrants, is coming to an end.
So how does that impact Western New York?
Jewish Family Services of WNY is now the agency administering the migrant program here in the Buffalo area. New York City is funding the Jewish Family Services program, JFS told 7 News.
JFS’ goal is to find more permanent housing for migrant families. So far 200 families have been placed in new homes.
The two Cheektowaga hotels that had been housing migrants are now empty. The Town of Cheektowaga filed lawsuits against the hotels last year, saying the hotels were breaking zoning rules about the length of time they could serve as shelters. The agreement was that they’d stop acting as shelters by December 31.
There were 45 families remaining at the Cheektowaga hotels this week. They have been temporarily moved to a Motel 6 on Maple Road in Amherst. There are also 227 other migrants still at the Red Roof Inn in Amherst.
Cheektowaga Town Supervisor Brian Nowak said he’s learned a lot from the experience.
“What I learned: We’ve got a broken immigration system and I got to see some more of that firsthand than I would have otherwise," said Nowak. "As a country, we've all got to do something about this and it's not just, you know, throw out every person and lock down the borders. Make it a little easier to get work permits, make it less challenging to become a citizen, do something to where you know these people are coming in.”
