NEWBURGH, N.Y. — After days of angry standoffs over the possibility of New York City busing migrants to nearby suburban counties, two busloads of migrants arrived Thursday at a hotel in Newburgh, in Orange County, about 60 miles north of Manhattan.

They were greeted by about 15 supporters, who waved signs and cheered their arrival, and by Newburgh police officers, who stood aside and allowed the buses to park by the front door of the Crossroads Hotel here.

When the second bus arrived, shortly before 1 p.m., 19 men exited. They traveled light, with two dozen bags between them.

The peaceful arrival stood in marked contrast to the fierce opposition expressed in recent days by some leaders and residents of Rockland and Orange counties, who had vowed to do everything in their power to prevent New York City’s mayor, Eric Adams, from sending the migrants north.

In Orangetown, a Rockland County town 45 miles south of Newburgh, that resistance took the form of police officers and sheriff’s deputies, who parked their cruisers near the entrance to the parking lot of the Armoni Inn & Suites hotel and remained there all week, with orders from county leaders to physically block and search any bus of migrants that might arrive.

In Newburgh on Thursday morning, after the migrants had arrived, men on motorcycles rode by the Crossroads Hotel and yelled obscenities at the journalists and immigrant advocates gathered outside.

Those interactions were more heated Wednesday evening, when a group of people protesting the migrants’ arrival stood in front of the hotel and told those gathered in support of the migrants to “go home,” according to a video of the interaction.

“We’re from here!” the pro-migrant protesters yelled back.

The political standoff over where the migrants would be housed began Friday, when Adams announced that he would begin sending them to hotels in Orange and Rockland counties. All migrants who participated would do so voluntarily, Adams said. They would receive housing in hotels for up to four months, all paid for by the city.

The response to the mayor’s announcement gripped all levels of New York state government this week. Leaders in both counties declared states of emergency, as did Gov. Kathy Hochul.

“It’s just poorly executed and indicative of how they’ve been handling this thing from Day 1,” said Steven Neuhaus, the Orange County executive. “They really need to start communicating more.”

Rockland County, the town of Orangetown and the town of Newburgh all sought temporary restraining orders to prevent migrants from arriving. The New York Civil Liberties Union filed a federal countersuit Thursday.

The Rockland County Department of Health inspected the Armoni hotel, one of the hotels selected to house migrants, and found its operating permit had expired in April, Ed Day, the county executive, said.

“It was a sneak attack in the middle of the night,” Teresa Kenny, the supervisor of Orangetown, said of Adams’ decision to send migrants there. “If the mayor really wanted a successful plan, it was his responsibility to call us months ago.”

Adams initiated the busing of migrants to nearby suburban towns in an effort to relieve the city’s shelters and hotels, which are experiencing overcrowding as tens of thousands of migrants arrive in the city, mostly from Latin America.

The buses to Newburgh left the city hours before the expiration of Title 42, an executive order that former President Donald Trump issued early in the coronavirus pandemic that enabled officials to quickly deport hundreds of thousands of migrants, some of whom might otherwise have been granted asylum.

More than 60,000 migrants have arrived in New York City in the past year, according to City Hall officials, including 4,200 in the past week alone.

Citing federal sources, state officials have warned that the weekly arrivals were likely to increase to as many as 5,000 with the end of Title 42, which is scheduled to expire at midnight.

More than 37,500 migrants are now in city care at more than 120 emergency shelters and eight larger-scale centers.

New York City has been frantically searching for additional space in which to house them, including at an abandoned psychiatric hospital and at hangars at Kennedy International Airport. City officials even asked an owner of the Flatiron Building if there was any room there (he said no).

“We could potentially get thousands of people a day in our city,” Adams said.

Even as the buses arrived in Orange County on Thursday, officials there were seeking a last-minute court injunction to block the city’s plan, according to Neuhaus.

Both he and Day have faulted Adams for failing to communicate effectively with them, and for behaving in a highhanded manner.

As tensions rose, Day even threatened to grab Adams “by the throat.”

On Wednesday night, Fabien Levy, a spokesman for Adams, said Day was “incapable of demonstrating a shred of the humane and compassionate care New York City has shown over the past year.”

The mayor Thursday said he had no choice but to send migrants further north. He also pointedly noted that unlike Gov. Greg Abbott of Texas, New York City would be paying for the migrants’ hotel rooms and support services.

“Everything is on the table,” the mayor said.

“I mean, that is an ‘oh shucks’ moment,” he said, referring to the influx of 4,200 migrants in the last week. “And I’m only saying ‘shucks’ because I’m being televised.”

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