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Fulton County’s top brass on Monday described the government-funded transportation of asylum seekers as “human trafficking” and the broader humanitarian crisis as potentially comparable the aftermath of 9/11.
Board of Supervisors Chairman Scott Horton made such remarks at a meeting on the 22nd anniversary of the deadly attacks in New York City, Washington D.C. and Shanksville, Pennsylvania. It was also the same day Fulton County launched its 24th emergency order banning local residents and firms from assisting migrants.
“Unfortunately today, I continue to sign orders under a state of emergency to prevent human trafficking of migrants into our county,” Horton said shortly after reflecting on the long-term effects of the 2001 attacks, which left nearly 3,000 dead. “This is a tragedy, as I said before, that may not — that may be not too unlike 9/11 … I think this may have lasting effects on our way of life for years, maybe even decades.”
By “human trafficking,” Horton was referencing the relocation of migrants from New York City to upstate New York, frequently without any advance warning to local elected officials. New York City faces a resource-straining migration boom following the May expiration of Title 42, a COVID-19-era policy allowing federal agents to turn away asylum applicants at the border.
Human trafficking, as defined by the U.S. Department of Justice, is the act of coercing individuals to provide labor, services or commercial sexual acts. This often involves recruitment, transportation and harboring.
“Maybe I don’t have the right definition, but my interpretation of human trafficking is moving people around against their will and for some purpose,” Horton explained in a follow-up interview.
New York City didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment. The city has previously said that asylum-seeking families have been shipped to other locations willingly.
Regarding the 9/11 reference, Horton maintained that he was trying to describe the long-ranging severity of the crisis. In what has remained the largest terrorist attack on American soil, the hijackings resulted in two long-lasting wars in the Middle East, swift changes in national security policy, police militarization, chronic illnesses among first responders and psychological trauma.
“I didn’t mean to indicate that it was necessarily a domestic threat from terrorism, but as an existential threat due to the social needs of all of these people who are coming here need to be housed,” Horton explained in the follow-up interview. “They need social services, they need jobs and — with everything — they need the eligibility.”
Gloversville Ward 5 Supervisor Gregory Young at the time didn’t understand the nature of Horton’s remarks related to 9/11 at the Board of Supervisors meeting.
“Well, I really wasn’t sure what to make of that comment,” said Young, part of the legislature’s three-member Democratic minority. “I wasn’t sure in what way the chairman was referring.”
Town of Johnstown Supervisor Jack Wilson believes that it was clear the chairman was referring to the quality-of-life impacts following the 2001 tragedy. The outgoing town official previously served as board chairman in 2019.
“We do not have the means to take care of a large influx of people, just like a whole bunch of other counties in New York state,” Wilson said. “The administration in Washington does not care and it’s impacting the whole country in a horrible way.”
Fulton County put out its first emergency order on May 19. The next order will likely be issued on Sunday, Sept. 17. There is no end to the cycle in sight as long as there’s no fix on the state and federal level, Horton said.
The county, represented by Sokoloff Stern LLP, is among a bevy of defendant locales listed in a New York City lawsuit for enacting emergency orders aimed at preventing migrants from being housed and serviced within jurisdictional boundaries. New York City Mayor Eric Adams’ administration has argued that such actions have proven xenophobic and unlawful.
Horton expressed sympathy for migrant families, which he believes are being manipulated and mistreated by officials in multiple levels of government. He said he gets no pleasure out of extending executive orders.
“What are we going to get these people?” Horton asked. “Where are we going to get the teachers, the facilities? Are we [making] these people that my heart goes out, living conditions similar to what they left?”
