Boyd Calls on Kusnierz to Discontinue or Amend Emergency Declaration on Immigrants and Asylum Seekers

 

Below is a press release issued by the Boyd for Supervisor campaign:

(Ballston Spa) Saratoga Springs County Supervisor Candidate Gordon Boyd today delivered a letter to Todd Kusnierz, the Chair of the Saratoga County Board of Supervisors, detailing the problems with his unilateral Emergency Declaration and Order regarding immigrants and asylum seekers.

Boyd points out that thousands of backstretch workers, many of Latino or Hispanic background, will soon be coming to Saratoga to stable and train horses for the Thoroughbred meet. Their safety and wellbeing may be detrimentally affected by the county’s sweeping order. Boyd asks why weren’t any elected officials in the City of Saratoga Springs notified? He also questions the reasoning behind demanding that every transportation service, hotel, motel or other accommodation get the County’s permission to do business.

“It’s a waste of taxpayer dollars,” wrote Boyd. “The right approach would be to identify and engage resources throughout the county, including city government, our faith communities, and hospitality industry. Local governments should coordinate resources to accommodate as many migrants as we can safely handle.

“The county’s statement that we are about to experience ‘an extraordinary increase in the number’ of people coming to the county, and that the county ‘would be especially sensitive to further change in population’ strains credulity. We welcome tens of thousands of visitors every day all summer long. The difference now involves the reason people are coming here, not the number of them,” Boyd said.

Boyd called for a pragmatic and collaborative approach to the situation which includes local governments working together and also requesting and receiving state and federal support.