A couple’s wedding plans are in turmoil after a New York state hotel that was hosting their guests abruptly canceled their rooms to make way for the influx of migrants.
Gary Moretti, 37, and Deanna Mifsud, 35, have criticized the Crossroads Hotel in Newburgh after finding out the hotel had canceled 30 rooms they booked just weeks before their wedding.
“It was absolutely devastating,” Moretti told . “It hit us really hard even though we had contracts and thought we were locked up – that’s disrespectful.”
Moretti said the move, which comes after the end of Title 42 sparked a surge of migrants across the southern border, could end up costing the couple more than $20,000 as they scramble to find new housing for their 160 guests find.
“It’s absolutely disturbing how they’re treating Americans.” How should taxpayers deal with this? he asked.
The upcoming wedding of Gary Moretti (left) and Deanna Mifsud (right) was thrown into chaos when the hotel where their guests were staying canceled their migrant accommodation booking
The Crossroads Hotel in Newburgh, New York, has abruptly canceled bookings for 30 rooms for the couple’s June 24 wedding
The rooms are now housing migrants (pictured) who were brought into the area on buses, while NYC grapples with large numbers of asylum seekers streaming across the southern border
Moretti, who is originally from New York but moved to Florida a few years ago, chose Crossroads because it was only 20 minutes from the luxurious Lippincott Manor in Walkill, the site of their June 24 wedding.
He now needs new accommodation and transportation for guests, including the bridesmaids and groomsmen, after the hotel gave priority to migrants.
The 37-year-old said he only discovered the crisis when he saw on the news that hotels in the north of the state were taking in large crowds of migrants streaming across the border.
“I had to find out for myself,” he told . “I called the management company because I was concerned about my bookings and they just told me, ‘You don’t have to worry because it’s all cancelled.’
“They were so disrespectful, they just acted it out like it was nothing.”
Moretti said it was up to him to inform his guests, some of whom had been preparing to travel from the West Coast, that their hotel for his wedding next month has been canceled.
The wedding guests should come from all over the country, including California, Florida, Arizona, Minnesota and New Jersey.
“None of the guests were notified,” he said. “If we hadn’t looked for it, they might never have told us.”
Moretti and Mifsud are now struggling to find last-minute accommodation for their 160 guests, including their bridesmaids and groomsmen
A man holds up 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 crossing the southern border in record numbers at the end of Track 42
The large number of migrants in upstate New York is a result of Mayor Eric Adams’ decision to bus the asylum-seekers north to ease pressure on the Big Apple, as more than 10,000 people crossed the southern border in record numbers every day.
The Crossroads Hotel evicted more than a dozen homeless veterans from their rooms just days earlier to make way for the influx of migrants.
Sharon Toney-Finch, director of the Yerik Israel Toney Foundation, which helps the homeless, said that while the hotel didn’t give an explicit reason for the move, she said the timing was instructive.
She said the $88 a day her organization pays for residency dwarfs what the city pays them to house migrants. Hotels can reportedly earn close to $200 per room per night.
“It’s so unfair because at the end of the day, we’re a small non-profit organization and we pay $88 a day for the presence of a veteran,” she added.
The couple’s guests were expected to come from across the country, including California, Florida, Arizona, Minnesota and New Jersey
Pictured are migrants arriving at the Crossroads Hotel in Newburgh, where homeless veterans have been kicked out to prepare for the influx
Moretti, a firefighter who moved to Florida for work a few years ago, condemned his former state’s handling of the refugee crisis and said he hardly recognized his former home.
“The way they’ve approached this – including the homeless veterans – is just amazing to me,” Moretti added.
“Everything I knew about New York is destroyed.”
“I worry about how this country is developing.” “It’s not the migrant’s fault, but this state doesn’t want to do anything.”
Moretti and Mifsud are not alone in their predicament as the Crossroads Hotel has also canceled rooms to be used for the wedding of Queens couple Sean Plunkett and Nicole Hoeffrle.
Plunkett told CBS News the situation had left him and his bride-to-be “very forlorn.”
Choice Hotels, the brand under which Crossroads operates, was contacted by for comment.
The wedding bookings of Queens couple Sean Plunkett (left) and Nicole Hoeffrle (right) were also canceled at the last minute by The Crossroads Hotel
On May 11, 2023, migrants lined up at a makeshift refugee camp in El Paso to apply for asylum
Security forces observed migrants in Matamoros, Mexico, before the end of Title 42, attempting to enter the United States after crossing the Rio Grande
Hours before Title 42 was lifted on Thursday, hundreds of migrants lined up on US soil in Yuma to begin the asylum process
The sharp increase in border crossings was compounded by the expiry of Title 42 of the Immigration Directive.
The pandemic-era order allowed authorities to use a health law to quickly expel migrants who crossed the border and deny them the right to seek asylum.
The US has turned migrants away more than 2.8 million times under this order, but the order ended at midnight EST on Thursday.
A record number of migrants immediately poured across the border, but the flow has reportedly slowed in recent days.
U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) held up to 28,000 migrants at its facilities after the order expired, well in excess of its stated capacity and at what appeared to be a record-breaking number, two federal officials, who asked for anonymity, and the Border Patrol Union said .
As the fallout from the expiration of the order continues, has received new photos showing dozens of migrants being apprehended by border police as they enter the US illegally.
Border crossings surpassed 10,000 a day several times over the past week, and Customs and Border Protection are struggling to keep the rush under control as they process the swarm of arrivals.