If you’ve been reading headlines lately, you might’ve seen that Onondaga County is under a “State of Emergency.” It’s easy to assume that must be tied to our ongoing housing crisis, the lead crisis, or even infrastructure failures. But nope.

As of July 6, 2025, Our county, through our executive, extended an emergency order that’s not about any of that. It’s about migrants.

To be specific, the emergency order is focused on preventing migrants or asylum seekers—many of whom are legally permitted to be in the U.S.—from being housed here without prior county approval. Unlike other counties in New York, like Monroe or Albany, Onondaga isn’t using the emergency to create structure or accountability for hotels or shelters accepting state-sponsored migrants. There’s no requirement for emergency housing plans. No coordinated oversight. Just a blanket restriction and 30-day extensions, month after month.

Meanwhile, Monroe County required any hotel housing more than ten asylum seekers to file detailed emergency housing plans: fire safety, food, security, and funding guarantees all had to be part of the review. Albany County issued licenses and tracked placements. Those counties still maintained control—without shutting the door completely.

Here in Onondaga? We're declaring emergencies, but we’re not doing the work that should come with them.

If our County truly believes there’s an emergency, then there should be transparent criteria, clear oversight, and accountability. Emergency powers should be used to solve problems—not just to posture.

The full text of the July 6 emergency proclamation is available here, and I encourage you to read it yourself.

Because if this is the bar for what gets called an emergency, we’ve got a long list of other things in this community that deserve the same urgency.