NY town launches bid to stop childcare center from taking in migrants (2024)

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A wealthy New York town has launched a legal bid to block a suburban childcare center from taking in unaccompanied migrant children.

Officials in Mount Pleasant, Westchester, are embroiled in a court battle with the Jewish Child Care Association (JCCA) over whether asylum-seeking minors can be housed at thePleasantville Cottage School.

The JCCA sued the town first after officials declared an emergency order to keep migrants out of the town - the childcare group accused the measure of preventing them from carrying out their mission to shelter children in need.

They said in their lawsuit that the children 'have suffered traceable harm as a direct result of the town’s orders.'

Then the town countersued the JCCA on April 12 seeking an injunction to keep the migrant children out of their facility citing zoning issues.

The JCCA has a deal with theUS Office of Refugee Resettlement to take the children into the Mount Pleasant school, which is usually used as alocal residential treatment center for children with behavioral disorders.

But the town is trying to block the deal, claiming in their lawsuit that establishing a shelter at the school would violate the municipality's zoning code.

Town Attorney Darius Chafizadeh told The Examiner: 'It’s definitely a zoning issue. They can’t have a shelter on that campus. It’s not allowed under the zoning code.'

Town officials, including Supervisor Republican Carl Fulgenzi, have long tried to have the school shut down, claiming its residents have caused issues in the town.

In the first six months of 2023, there were more than 450 police calls to the site, including multiple violent offenses, according to The Examiner.

Now they argue that JCCA are unable to handle the young people that live onsite and having more children on campus would increase the chance of problems.

Fulgenzi has been a vocal opponent of migrants, issuing several emergency orders in an effort to prevent them from living in the town.

He said that the orders were necessary to prevent a 'flood' of incomers from nearby New York City.

In an October order he wrote: 'The Town has no ability to receive and sustain an influx of migrant persons and asylum seekers.'

The orders ban 'person, business, entity or municipality' from making contracts to transport migrants to or house migrants in the town without the 'express written permission of the Town Supervisor'.

The JCCA said that Fulgenzi created a 'sham emergency' and accused him of having racist motivations for blocking the migrants.

The organization pointed to a post shared on Fulgenzi's personal Facebook account where he shared a picture reading 'European Christians built this nation... they didn't come to b**ch, collect welfare, wage jihad, and replace the American Constitution with Sharia law.'

Carl Fulgenzi told DailyMail.com: 'The Town is concerned for the safety of the children at the JCCA. This facility has a well-documented history of assaults and 911 emergencies that make the campus an unsuitable location for unaccompanied minors. The JCCA by their own admission cannot handle the children already in their care and this is known to the State agencies that license the JCCA.

'The JCCA’s recent lawsuit is an attempt to vilify me and shift attention from their failures to protect their own residents. Just days ago in the latest of a long list of serious on-campus incidents, a child who was assaulted at the school was left to call 911 on her own because school administrators did not.

'From the legal perspective, it is important to understand that the Town has not enforced the Emergency Order against the JCCA, which is the basis of their lawsuit.

'However, we WILL enforce our zoning code, which applies to every property owner in Mount Pleasant. The Town is happy that the Supreme Court of Westchester County issued a Temporary Restraining Order (TRO) preventing the operation of a shelter on the JCCA property. Further, the JCCA cannot occupy its facility as a shelter or modify its buildings without proper permits, inspections of work performed and certificates of occupancy.

'It is dangerous, irresponsible and illegal for the JCCA to make major alterations to buildings that will house children without plans, permits or inspections. Children’s lives are at stake.'

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