Claims that homeless vets were evicted from upstate NY hotels were false, advocates misled officials
'America's Newsroom' host Dana Perino says veterans advocates falsely claimed homeless veterans had been evicted from hotels in Orange and Rockland Counties.
Despite initial reports amplifying the claims, there has been no evidence found to back up claims that ex-military members were booted from several New York hotels to make room for migrants being transported in from a recent border surge.
All of the hotels accused, along with Orange County, N.Y., Assemblyman Brian Maher, denied the claims that were initially made by the CEO of a non-profit dedicated to giving aid to veterans.
Initially, it was reported that two dozen homeless veterans had been booted from upstate hotels to make room for migrants based on claims from the Yerik Israel Toney [YIT] Foundation CEO and disabled veteran Sharon Toney-Finch.
Toney-Finch alleged that the veterans her group was paying to house at these hotels reached out to her to say that they had "been placed in another hotel due to what’s going on with the immigrants."
As she claimed, the veterans were being booted from the Crossroads Hotel in Newburgh, New York, and from the Super 8 and Hampton Inn & Suites in Middletown, N.Y.
According to Maher and the named hotels, however, Toney-Finch’s story wasn't true.
Maher, who initially believed the allegations, concluded Toney-Finch was lying about her claims. She admitted it when he asked her to show him receipts proving that the non-profit had paid for the veterans’ initial housing, and she couldn’t.
He told the New York Post Thursday: "I asked her to give her permission to the bank to release the information. She denied authorization. After two minutes, I called her back and explained how I was feeling about not being able to see that information, and then I asked her if that was something she made up, and that’s when she really had a hard time getting the words out."
He stated, "but she did reveal to me that this is not something that took place."
Maher claimed he was severing all ties to the non-profit in the wake of the unproven allegations and calling for the New York attorney general to investigate the claims.
Corroborating Maher’s claim to the outlet, the manager of the Crossroads Hotel claimed hotel staff searched their system for records of the non-profit paying for the veterans’ housing, "but found no reference of the YIT Foundation or Toney-Finch’s name."
The manager added, "I scoured the system. I mean, we went back, and there were no veteran organizations… There were no, absolutely no, veterans that were staying here that were asked to leave because of, you know, the migrants that were coming to stay here. Nobody was evicted. That’s for sure."
Fox News Digital reached out the Super 8 for information, where a clerk vehemently denied the allegations, calling them "asinine."
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Fox News Digital also reached out to the Hampton Inn & Suites owner, who denied the allegations.
After its CEO’s claims could not be verified, the YIT Foundation told Fox News, "There is a lot of things that has not happened. I am one of the Veterans YIT has helped that works voluntarily."
Editor’s Note: Previously published stories included statements suggesting that hotels in Orange County, New York, including the Crossroads Hotel, evicted a group of homeless veterans. Subsequent reporting revealed that the evidence supporting those claims was false, and Fox News retracts the claims.
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