A couple’s wedding plans are in shambles after an upstate New York hotel hosting its guests abruptly canceled their rooms to make room for an influx of migrants.
Gary Moretti, 37, and Deanna Mifsud, 35, have slammed the Crossroads Hotel in Newburgh after finding out it had canceled 30 rooms they had booked just weeks before their wedding.
“It was absolutely devastating,” Moretti told DailyMail.com. “It really hit us hard, even though we had contracts and thought we were locked in – it’s disrespectful.”
Moretti said the move, which comes after the end of Title 42 sparked a rush of migrants across the southern border, could end up costing the couple more than $20,000 as they scramble to find new accommodation. for their 160 guests.
“It’s absolutely shocking how they treat Americans. How should taxpayers handle this? ” He asked.
Gary Moretti, left, and Deanna Mifsud, right, saw their upcoming wedding thrown into chaos when the hotel hosting their guests canceled their booking to accommodate migrants
The Crossroads Hotel in Newburgh, New York, abruptly canceled reservations for 30 rooms for the couple’s nuptials on June 24
The rooms will now house migrants (pictured) who were bused into the area as NYC grapples with large numbers of asylum seekers crossing the southern border
Moretti, who is originally from New York but moved to Florida several years ago, chose Crossroads because it was just 20 minutes from the lavish Lippincott Manor in Walkill, the location of their June 24 nuptials.
He now needs new accommodations and transport for guests, including bridesmaids and groomsmen, after the hotel prioritized migrants.
The 37-year-old said he only found out about the crisis after seeing on the news that hotels upstate were accepting large numbers of migrants crossing the border.
“I had to find out myself,” he told DailyMail.com. “I called the management company because I was concerned about my bookings, and they just said, ‘You don’t have to worry because it’s all cancelled’.
“They were so disrespectful, they just played like nothing happened.”
Moretti said it was up to her to inform her guests, some of whom were preparing to travel from the West Coast, that their hotel for her wedding next month was cancelled.
Wedding guests were expected to flock from all over the country, from states like California, Florida, Arizona, Minnesota and New Jersey.
“None of the guests were notified,” he said. “If we hadn’t been looking for it, they might never have told us.”
Moretti and Mifsud are now scrambling for last minute accommodation for their 160 guests, including their bridesmaids and groomsmen
A man holds a sign to welcome migrants at The Crossroads Hotel in Newburgh, New York
The migrants (pictured) were among more than 10,000 people a day who crossed the southern border in record numbers at the end of Title 42
The large number of migrants in upstate New York is the result of Mayor Eric Adams’ decision to fly asylum seekers north to ease pressure on the Big Apple, when more than 10,000 people a day were crossing the southern border in record numbers.
Days earlier, the Crossroads Hotel had evicted more than a dozen homeless veterans from their rooms to make way for the influx of migrants.
Sharon Toney-Finch, who heads the Yerik Israel Toney Foundation which helps the homeless, said while the hotel didn’t explicitly give a reason for the move, she felt the timing was telling.
She said the $88 a day her organization pays for the stay is dwarfed by what the city will pay them to house migrants, with some reports indicating hotels can fetch nearly $200 per room per night.
“It’s so unfair because at the end of the day we’re a small nonprofit and we’re paying $88 a day to have a veteran there,” she added.
The couple’s guests were expected to flock from across the country, from states including California, Florida, Arizona, Minnesota and New Jersey.
Migrants pictured arriving at The Crossroads hotel in Newburgh, where homeless veterans were evicted to prepare for the influx
Moretti, a firefighter who moved to Florida several years ago for work, condemned his former state’s handling of the migrant crisis and said he barely recognized his former home.
“The way they approached it – including the homeless veterans – it amazes me,” Moretti added.
“Everything I knew about New York is destroyed.
“I am concerned about how this country is going. It is not the fault of the migrant, but this State does not want to do anything.
Moretti and Mifsud are not alone in their plight, with the Crossroads Hotel also canceling rooms that will be used for the wedding of Queens couple Sean Plunkett and Nicole Hoeffrle.
Plunkett said CBS News the situation left him and his future wife feeling “very left out”.
Choice Hotels, the brand under which Crossroads operates, has been contacted for comment by DailyMail.com.
Queens couple Sean Plunkett, left, and Nicole Hoeffrle, right, also had their wedding reservations canceled at the last minute by The Crossroads Hotel
Migrants line up to be processed for asylum claims at a makeshift migrant camp in El Paso on May 11, 2023
Security forces observed the migrants attempting to enter the United States after crossing the Rio Grande River, in Matamoros, Mexico, before the end of Title 42
Hours before Title 42 was lifted on Thursday, hundreds of migrants lined up on US soil in Yuma to begin the asylum process
The surge in border crossings was fueled by the expiration of Title 42 immigration policy.
The pandemic-era order allowed authorities to use a public health law to quickly deport migrants crossing the border, denying them the right to seek asylum.
The United States has turned back migrants more than 2.8 million times under the order, but the order ended Thursday at midnight Eastern Time.
A record number of migrants immediately crossed the border, but reports indicate the flow decreased in the days that followed.
U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) detained up to 28,000 migrants at its facilities when the order expired, well beyond its stated capacity and in what appeared to be a record said two federal officials requesting anonymity and the Border Patrol union.
As the fallout from the order’s expiration continues, DailyMail.com has obtained new photos showing dozens of migrants apprehended by Border Patrol as they illegally cross into the United States.
Border crossings have topped 10,000 a day on several occasions over the past week, and Customs and Border Protection are struggling to rein in the rush to process the swarm of arrivals.
