SUNY campuses considered for asylum-seekers

BY CAMERYN OAKES

As New York State receives a growing number of refugees seeking asylum, Gov. Kathy Hochul said she is looking at the SUNY system as a potential housing solution to address the infux. But this will not include SUNY Old Westbury.

Michael Kinane, vice president of communications and college relations at SUNY Old Westbury, told Blank Slate that while the campus was assessed Friday by a request from the governor, it will not be utilized for housing asylum seekers.

State Sen. Jack Martins initially told News 12 Friday that state inspectors would be sent to the campus.

welcoming undocumented immigrants and told News 12 that he opposes New York State’s sanctuary status.

”Now communities like ours, like here in Nassau County and elsewhere in New York State, have to deal with the realities of migrants being shipped into our communities without the resources we need to deal with them, without knowing who they are and quite frankly, potentially putting us all at risk,” Martins told News 12.

While SUNY Old Westbury will no longer be consider, State Assemblymember Charles Lavine (D-Westbury) said that he would be open-minded to any reasonable suggestion to address an infux of migrants seeking asylum.

ment related to the proposal.

Las Vegas Sands Chairman and CEO Robert Goldstein praised the work of Nassau County Executive Bruce Blakeman and the are greatly honored by the near-unanimous support that the lease transfer received today from the Nassau County Legislature.”

The lease agreement, announced by

Blakeman said the result of the Legislature’s vote on the casino shows that the agreement between Nassau and Las Vegas Sands is one that will beneft the community.

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Blank Slate Media contacted Martins’ ofce but could not speak with him before publication.

Martins, a Nassau Republican, has historically opposed