Related Story: National Justice Party protests migrant resettlement across New York State, demands ‘justice for Salina’

Salina, NY – A disenfranchised White family—living inside an extended stay hotel that once tried ousting all of its tenants in exchange for ‘busloads’ of New York City migrants—were reportedly denied heat and electricity to oust them from the property. The family claims harassment from hotel management hasn’t stopped since their schemes were foiled by local lawmakers in the spring, despite orders that prevent their eviction until December 1st.

According to a report from Syracuse.com, a family already grappling with eviction from a one-bedroom hotel at Salina’s Candlewood Suites hotel was unceremoniously denied heat and electricity for hours. Nicole Sinda and her family, consisting of her fiancée, Josh Williams, three children, two dogs, and four cats, experienced a power outage around 11 a.m. on Sunday, just as Sinda was preparing food for her children.

The Sinda family has been one of many low-income families taking advantage of affordable extended-stay options at Salina’s Candlewood Suites. The hotel previously made headlines and even drew protests when its NYC-based management company, Churchwick Partners and Asaf Fligelman, hatched a sudden and lucrative deal with the City of New York to house “busloads” of foreign migrants.

There was only one obstacle in the way for Churchwick and Fligelman: the families currently living there.

Thanks to public pressure and a last-minute court order that halted the flow of migrants from entering Candlewood, plans to turn White Salina, NY, into an open-air housing facility were stymied, albeit temporarily. Still, Sinda claims that ever since this unfolded during the spring, hotel management has continued to harass and threaten her family in an attempt to force them to leave.

A court eviction order issued in August mandated that the family vacate Candlewood no later than December 1. Adding to their housing woes, the hotel cut off their power on Sunday, even as temperatures in upstate New York dropped to 2 degrees. Sinda claims the family were forced to bundle up and use socks to cover their hands as temperatures plummeted.

“It’s frustrating,” said Sinda in a comment to Syracuse.com. “I feel violated, terrorized, targeted, attacked.”

Unable to use their dryer and portable washer, Sinda claims they had to use their last remaining funds to buy food from the local McDonald’s across the street. Sinda believes the lack of amenities is a retaliatory measure from hotel management, which tracks with previous attempts at intimidation. Before the migrants were even a factor, Sinda claims the hotel once tried to deactivate their room keys and unauthorized credit card charges.

“It’s frustrating…I feel violated, terrorized, targeted, attacked.”

Nicole Sinda, Candlewood Resident

Like others in similar situations, Sinda revealed that her family has been paying $300 weekly for accommodation at Candlewood since November of 2022. The family’s journey to the hotel began after they were evicted from a rental home in Syracuse’s Eastwood neighborhood in September of last year. Sinda reported these incidents to the police, but she says it wasn’t much use.

Sinda went to Liverpool Village Court on Monday, where she was advised to have a warrant issued through her lawyer to restore the room’s power. Ultimately, Salina Code Enforcement intervened, and power was restored around 10 a.m. on Monday. A state law signed in 2019 makes it a crime in New York to illegally evict tenants. Cutting off essential services like heat, power, or water all qualify as an “unlawful eviction” per that statute.

According to Syracuse.com, Salina Town Supervisor Nick Paro confirmed the power outage at Candlewood. He says that hotel management blamed the tenants for the outage, which claimed the families cut those services off by themselves.

“We believe that’s a lie, which we find to be a problem,” said Paro.

Paro claims an investigation determined that the electric panel for the hotel was locked, and the only ones with access would have been hotel employees.

The Candlewood Suites hotel and its bid to illegally evict long-term residents for foreign migrants previously drew attention from the pro-White civil rights organization, the National Justice Party. In June, over twenty Supporters and volunteer activists from the group marched outside of Candlewood, demanding an end to predatory housing schemes and a halt to migrant resettlement, which now plagues states like New York, Illinois, Massachusets, and others.

“No matter where you fall on America’s political spectrum, it’s now become clear that these families, facing homelessness and economic precarity, have been completely abandoned by the system once entrusted to protect them,” said Bill, a regional organizer for the NJP’s New York chapter during the protest.

“…We come today to stand in defense of the working-class families of Salina, New York, the racially displaced residents of the Candlewood Suites hotel, and anyone else whose life might be upended by the greedy and objectively evil schemes conducted every day by the anti-White system,” he continued.

While the issue of foreign migrants has since drawn widespread condemnation and protest from members of the left and right, those personally affected by displacement appear to have little advocates. Members of the NJP, however, have championed the cause. In July, they marched again in Rotterdam, New York, when one hotel—a local Super 8—successfully kicked out all of its tenants and filled each of its rooms with so-called “asylum seekers.”

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