They huffed and they puffed, but eventually, New York City opted to blow Batavia off of its list of defendants to sue for banning undocumented immigrants from seeking shelter in Genesee County.
County Manager Matt Landers had first issued a State of Emergency in May after receiving word that busloads of immigrants were potentially being sent to upstate New York, including Genesee County. Landers followed the move made by Orleans County, and, in dominoes fashion, counties began to react to their neighbors and filed one by one so as not to be the only county left with no protection if and when those immigrants arrived.
County Attorney Jim Wujcik informed legislators Wednesday that the plaintiffs had a change of heart.
“New York City filed for a discontinuance; they’re no longer suing Genesee County,” he said.
The official letter from Assistant Corporation Counsel Doris Bernhardt provided no explanation other than the plaintiff was discontinuing its lawsuit against the county and Landers “without prejudice and without costs to any party.”
Landers filed three executive orders, as he continued to extend the initial one two more times. New York City filed its lawsuit in June against 30 municipalities and was seeking to invalidate those executive orders, claiming that they were unconstitutional and impeded the rights of people who are legally within the borders of the United States as asylum seekers to travel and use public accommodations.
