HARFORD, Md. — The Greater Baltimore Area Motel Consortium sent a letter saying it would bring undocumented immigrants from New York City to Harford County.
In the letter, the group claims to have had meetings with multiple New York and Maryland agencies who have all agreed to this effort.
We asked some neighbors in Harford County how they felt about the letter.
“We need to get more clarity on that first of all, and I'm not sure if that even is going to happen and I hope it doesn’t happen because when you talk about illegal immigrants it’s an entirely different ball game," says Dr. Rehan Khan.
On Wednesday, Councilman Penman called on County Executive Bob Cassilly to reject the proposal, claiming Cassilly was scheduled to meet with the organization later this week.
Cassilly denies this.
"He’s been aggressively negative towards me since the day he was sworn in and I don’t play that kind of politics," says Bob Cassilly.
Cassilly sent out his own statement in which he says he does not agree with the proposal and is investigating to find out if the organization that sent the letter is even real.
Cassilly says he has aslo reached out to Governor Moore and agencies in New York City who all deny any knowledge of moving immigrants.
He also says Harford County simply cannot take in that many families.
“I don’t support any effort to relocate the immigrant families from New York City into Harford County, its grossly unfair to the students and the families in Harford County to flood us with about 220 immigrant families in two of my schools is absolutely outrageous. I will do everything in my power to make sure that doesn’t happen," says Cassilly.
Dr. Rehan Khan who lives and works in Harford County says he is not surprised the councilman called out the county executive.
“This is what is happening in our country its happening at the Washington D.C. level, its happening at the local level I think we need to learn to live together and this is the holiday season I think we should all be nice to each other and we need to do our homework before we jump to the conclusion," says Dr. Khan.
As of now there are no plans from the Harford County government to take in any undocumented immigrants from New York.
Councilman Penman also said in his statement he is planning to draft legislation to prevent hotels and motels in Harford County from being converted into makeshift shelters to house undocumented immigrants.
