Wealthy New York town launches furious legal bid to stop migrant children being sent to childcare center
- City officials in Mount Pleasant, Westchester, are embroiled in a lawsuit with the Jewish Child Care Association (JCCA)
- The city is trying to prevent the JCCA from housing asylum-seeking children
A wealthy New York city has launched a legal initiative to prevent a suburban child care center from taking in unaccompanied migrant children.
Officials in Mount Pleasant, Westchester, are involved in a lawsuit with the Jewish Child Care Association (JCCA) over whether asylum-seeking minors can be housed at the Pleasantville Cottage School.
The JCCA first sued the city after officials declared an emergency order to keep migrants out of the city. The childcare group accused the measure of preventing them from carrying out their mission to care for children in need.
They said in their lawsuit that the children “suffered demonstrable harm as a direct result of the city’s orders.”
The city subsequently protested the JCCA on April 12 and requested an injunction to keep the migrant children out of their shelter, citing zoning issues.
Republican Carl Fulgenzi, the city supervisor, has long tried to have the school closed
The JCCA has struck a deal with the U.S. Office of Refugee Resettlement to take the children to their Mount Pleasant school
The JCCA has struck a deal with the U.S. Office of Refugee Resettlement to take the children to the Mount Pleasant school, which is commonly used as a local residential treatment center for children with behavioral disorders.
But the city is trying to block the deal, claiming in their lawsuit that setting up a shelter at the school would violate the city’s zoning ordinance.
City Attorney Darius Chafizadeh told The Examiner, “It’s absolutely a zoning issue. They cannot have housing on that campus. It is not allowed according to the zoning plan.’
City officials, including Republican Supervisor Carl Fulgenzi, have long tried to close the school, claiming its residents had caused problems in the city.
According to The Examiner, there were more than 450 police calls to the location in the first six months of 2023, including several violent crimes.
Now they claim that JCCA is unable to handle the young people living on site and that having more children on campus would increase the potential for problems.
Fulgenzi was an outspoken opponent of migrants and issued several emergency orders in an attempt to prevent them from living in the city.
He said the orders were necessary to prevent a “flood” of newcomers from nearby New York City.
The city is trying to stop the move, claiming in their lawsuit that setting up a shelter at the school would violate the city’s zoning ordinance.
The JCCA said Fulgenzi had created a ‘false emergency’ and accused him of having racist motives for blocking the migrants
In an October order, he wrote: “The city is unable to accommodate and sustain an influx of migrants and asylum seekers.”
The orders prohibit “any person, business, entity or municipality” from entering into contracts to transport migrants to or house migrants in the city without the “express written consent of the city supervisor.”
The JCCA said Fulgenzi had created a “sham emergency” and accused him of having racist motives for stopping the migrants.
The organization pointed to a post shared on Fulgenzi’s personal Facebook account, where he shared a photo with the caption “European Christians built this nation… Sharia law.”
DailyMail.com contacted Fulgenzi for comment.