National

(NEW YORK) — Protesters flooded the street outside a former senior living facility in Staten Island, temporarily blocking a bus carrying asylum-seekers, after local leaders said they learned it was slated to house New York City’s latest migrant shelter.

Ten people were arrested, nine of whom received summonses for disorderly conduct and were released, police said.

Vadim Belyakov, 48, was charged with assaulting a police officer, resisting arrest and obstructing government administration after an officer was injured trying to arrest him, according to police. He will be arraigned in criminal court Wednesday. The police officer was treated for a knee injury.

City Councilman David Carr said the city Department of Social Services told him the shelter would be opening at the former Island Shores Senior Living Facility, which brought dozens of residents to protest, and police officers quickly responded to close the street in front of the former facility.

A bus taking about 20 asylum-seekers to the new facility turned around after it was met by protesters at around 8:15 p.m. Tuesday night.

The bus encountered protesters, temporarily blocking its path. Police were arranging an alternate route when the passengers asked to return to The Roosevelt Hotel in Manhattan, which is being used as a migrant intake center. The bus then turned around.

Mayor Eric Adams, appearing on several morning shows, described it as “an ugly display”

“The police department handled those small number of people and we are not going to allow ourselves to be bullied carrying out our responsibilities,” Adams told local outlet NY1. “But I understand the frustration New Yorkers are going through and I understand the frustration that the asylum-seekers are experiencing as well.”

Adams has been appealing for help from both the state and federal government due to a surge in migrants bused to the city since last year. About 130,000 asylum-seekers have arrived in the city in the past year and a half. New York Gov. Kathy Hochul met with President Joe Bien on Tuesday, saying she had a “very productive conversation” in regard to “specific requests for help with the migrant crisis.”

An NYPD drone was used during the protest to survey the crowd, which included people hurling objects at the officers. Police called a Level 3 mobilization for crowd control.

The 288-bed senior living facility was put up for sale last year, and local residents have been protesting for the last month amid rumors that migrants would soon be placed there.

 

Copyright © 2023, ABC Audio. All rights reserved.

(ATLANTA) — Three of former President Donald Trump’s co-defendants in the Georgia election interference case will try to have their cases removed to federal court Wednesday.

For the third time, a federal judge is set to hear arguments during an evidentiary hearing in Atlanta on the issue of federal removal, this time from David Shafer, Shawn Still and Cathy Latham — three of Trump’s so-called “alternate electors” who were charged in the conspiracy case by Fulton County DA Fani Willis.

The three are following in the footsteps of former Trump Chief of Staff Mark Meadows and former Department of Justice official Jeffrey Clark, two federal officials who were charged in the case and have sought to move their cases based on a federal law that calls for the removal of criminal proceedings brought in state court to the federal court system when a federal official or someone acting under them is charged for actions they allegedly took while acting “under color” of their office.

The three defendants are expected to face an uphill battle after Judge Steve Jones earlier this month denied Meadows’ bid. Clark is awaiting a ruling on his motion, while Meadows is continuing his efforts on appeal.

Trump and 18 others were charged in a sweeping racketeering indictment for alleged efforts to overturn the results of the 2020 presidential election in the state of Georgia. Shafer, Still and Latham are charged with impersonating a public officer and forgery, among other crimes, after they allegedly met with 13 other individuals in December 2020 and put forward electors’ certificates falsely stating that Trump won the state and declaring themselves the state’s “duly elected and qualified” electors.

All 19 defendants have pleaded not guilty to the charges.

Shafer previously served as the chair of the Georgia Republican Party, while Still is currently a Georgia state senator and Latham was the GOP chair for Coffee County.

None of the three are expected to appear in court for their joint hearing, after each submitted a waiver for their in-person appearances. Clark also did not appear for his hearing, while Meadows testified at his own hearing for over three hours.

Shafer, Still and Cathy Latham have argued in court filings that they qualify for removal because they were acting as federal officials, under federal authority, in their role as alternate electors.

“The role of presidential elector is a federal one — created and directed by the United States Constitution and Congress,” the motion from Still’s attorney argued. “Thus, Mr. Still, acting as a presidential elector, was a federal officer.”

But that argument has drawn sharp rebuke from the Fulton County DA’s office, who said the individuals “falsely impersonated” real electors and do not qualify for removal.

“Defendants and his fellow fraudulent electors conspired in a scheme to impersonate true Georgia presidential electors,” the DA’s office wrote in a filing. “Their fiction is not entitled to recognition by the Court.”

“‘Contingent electors’ are not presidential electors,” the filing said, adding that “there is no prize for first runner up in the Electoral college.”

Judge Jones, in denying Meadows’ bid to move his case to federal court, said Meadows failed to show how the allegations in the indictment were related to any of his official duties as Trump’s chief of staff.

Instead, Jones said Meadows’s actions were “taken on behalf of the Trump campaign with an ultimate goal of affecting state election activities and procedures.”

Copyright © 2023, ABC Audio. All rights reserved.

(NEW YORK) — Johnny Mims, a band director at Minor High School in Alabama, is accusing Birmingham police of using excessive force against him after he was shocked with a stun gun three times after officers say he refused to comply with orders while they attempted to clear the field.

In an interview with ABC News’ DeMarco Morgan that aired on Good Morning America on Wednesday, Mims accused police of using “excessive force” in the incident that took place on Sept. 14 and said that he feared for his life.

“I didn’t deserve to be tased. I didn’t deserve to be tased, regardless of how people say it or how people feel about it. I never deserved that. I’m a good citizen,” Mims told GMA.

“I was on the ground. So to go and tase me twice or three times … that’s excessive,” he added. “I’m a band director. I’m the bus driver. So I wasn’t I wasn’t running … I can’t go nowhere. I got students that I’m accountable for.”

The incident occurred at P.D. Jackson-Olin High School in Birmingham during “fifth quarter” — a tradition that originates at Historically Black Colleges and Universities where school bands face off, taking turns to play music after a football game comes to an end.

“It is a big cultural thing that happens amongst bands. Something that everybody looks forward to,” Mims said.

“A large proportion of our fans come just to see the bands and so it’s something that’s not uncustomary,” he added.

Mims said that bands from both schools each agreed to play three tunes during fifth quarter and during the third song is when police approached him as he stood on the podium and asked the band to vacate the stadium. Mims said that he told them they would leave after the band finished its last song.

Body camera footage released by BPD shows officers attempting to clear the stadium following the game and as they approach Mims and ask him to tell the band to stop the music, he repeatedly says, “Get out of my face.”

“Cut it! We got to go,” a sergeant says.

“I know. We’re fixing to go. This is our last song,” Mims says in response.

After an officer says something to the effect of Mims going to jail, Mims gives a thumbs up and says, “That’s cool.”

The band continues to play as officers order them to leave, and the sergeant yells to put Mims in handcuffs.

While attempting to handcuff the director after the band stopped performing, an officer can be heard saying, “I’m fixing to tase you.”

Another officer says, “He hit the officer, he got to go to jail.”

“I did not swing on the officer, man,” Mims says in response.

While attempting to detain Mims, an officer deployed his stun gun on him three times, the video shows.

Birmingham Fire and Rescue personnel treated Mims at the scene before officers transported him to a local hospital, per police protocol.

Upon being discharged, Mims was booked at the Birmingham City Jail on disorderly conduct, harassment and resisting arrest charges early Friday. He was bonded out within hours, online jail records show. Police allege Mims refused to place his hands behind his back and pushed an officer during the altercation.

Mims’ attorney, Juandalynn Givan, told GMA that her office plans to take legal action against the city of Birmingham and called for officers involved to be placed on administrative leave pending further investigation.

Asked if any of the officers have been disciplined, a spokesperson for the Birmingham Police Department’s Internal Affairs Division told ABC News on Tuesday that an investigation is ongoing.

“I want these charges dropped against my client. His reputation has been impacted. They have impugned his character,” Givan said. “We want justice for our client and we want his voice to be heard. We want him respected and we want an apology from the city of Birmingham.”

Mims told GMA that as an educator, he is concerned about the impact the experience had had on the students, including the 145 band members that he was leading.

“To hear those kids cry … [that] is the most heartbreaking thing that anybody can ever experience,” Mims said.

“My biggest prayer is that first of all, that these students will not hold a grudge that they will be able to overcome this – that they would one day be able to move forward and continue to be the great people that they are,” he added.

According to BPD, Birmingham Police Chief Scott Thurmond met with the Birmingham mayor and superintendents from both school districts regarding the incident.

Jefferson County Schools Superintendent Walter Gonsoulin told ABC News that they are reviewing the video, adding that it is “extremely upsetting to me that our students, our children, had to witness that scene.”

Consoulin said that he can’t comment further amid the ongoing investigation but added that counselors have been made available to students.

Copyright © 2023, ABC Audio. All rights reserved.

(NEW YORK) — From Texas to California, communities along the southern border are dealing with an increase of migrants entering shelters, according to officials.

In a statement provided to ABC affiliate KVIA-TV on Monday, El Paso Strategic Communications Director Laura Cruz-Acosta said the region had seen a seven-day spike in encounters at the border, averaging over 1,200 per day. The city and its Office of Emergency Management (OEM) is said to have housed more than 4,200 migrants in hotels over the same time period.

In another sign showing the region is dealing with an influx of migrant arrivals, U.S. Customs and Border Protection announced in a statement on Friday the suspension of cargo processing at the Bridge of the Americas.

CBP said the temporary closure of the cargo lot in El Paso, which is typically open on weekdays from 6. a.m. to 2 p.m., would “allow CBP’s Office of Field Operations officers to assist the U.S. Border Patrol in processing noncitizens who have arrived between the ports of entry including vulnerable populations like families and unaccompanied children.”

The increase in asylum seekers led the county’s Office of Emergency Management to establish an overflow facility at a recreation center “out of an overabundance of caution” but had not used it as of Monday night, Cruz-Acosta said.

“The city and OEM are working closely with CBP/ICE, the county and non-governmental organizations (NGOs) to coordinate ongoing efforts. Due to the recent surge efforts, no street releases have been made in the El Paso region like we are seeing in California and Arizona. We are monitoring the situation closely and will provide updates as they become available. At this time, we are using hotels as they are more humane than opening emergency shelters especially, for families,” she said in part.

Mark Evans, the spokesperson for Pima County, Arizona told ABC News CBP has told officials they’ve encountered roughly more than 2,000 people a day in the Tucson sector over the past eight days.

The county’s hotels and shelters it uses to temporarily house migrants have been at or near capacity in recent days, but numbers have fluctuated daily.

On Saturday alone, the county took in 1,100 people and had to shelter 300 of them when the rest traveled to other locations or were transferred to neighboring counties. When the county deems that it can’t temporarily house any more people, Evans says they have been transporting some to shelters in Phoenix.

Border Patrol Tucson Sector Chief John Modlin posted on X, the company formerly known as Twitter, on Friday that there had been 13,000 apprehensions last week.

Although CBP declined to share the number of migrants that are released into communities, the agency tells ABC News that they partner with NGOs to facilitate drop-offs of migrants who have already been processed. When those NGOs are over capacity, U.S. Border Patrol communicates with local governments to find other locations for migrants to be dropped off so they can access transportation or other services. CBP says migrants who are released have undergone background checks and are waiting for their immigration cases to be adjudicated.

While CBP maintains that all releases are communicated with local organizations or governments, Evans claims Border Patrol has been releasing some migrants without telling officials because their facilities are overburdened.

“Border Patrol is so full, they have not felt it safe to wait because they got to clear out their facilities because there’s just too many people. So they’ve just been releasing people without telling us and that has created some communications and logistical problems that we’ve mostly worked through over the past week. I don’t know how long border patrol will maintain this posture, probably as long as they’re dangerously over full. What they’re telling us is that the Tucson sector is just getting hammered,” he said.

When reached by ABC News, the CBP pushed back on claims that releases were uncoordinated.

“We have identified locations in coordination with our state local partners and we continue to be in communication with them on a daily basis,” the agency said in a statement.

Evans says the last time the county encountered these kinds of numbers was in May 2023 before Title 42, a Trump-era policy that was used nearly three million times to deny migrants the opportunity to seek asylum, ended.

“Right now we’re in a wave that seems to be turning into a flood in the Tucson sector and why it’s happening on the Tucson sector and why it hasn’t abated I don’t know. That’s the question for Border Patrol,” Evans said.

A CBP spokesperson says since Spring, cartels have been smuggling family units and other “nontraditional” migrants to remote areas of the Tucson sector.

In the San Diego Sector, CBP has temporarily suspended pedestrian crossings at the Ped West facility in San Ysidro, California so officers can assist Border Patrol there.

San Diego County Disctrict 5 Supervisor Jim Desmond posted on X that as of Tuesday morning, “3,335 migrants had been dropped off in San Diego” over a period of five days.

“Hundreds of more are expected to be dropped off this morning. This is a failure by the federal government and can not continue,” Desmond posted on X.

Copyright © 2023, ABC Audio. All rights reserved.

(BOULDER, Colo.) — A suspect police say was trying to hit people with his truck in a Boulder, Colorado, park Tuesday morning has been charged with attempted murder.

Boulder 911 received its first emergency call at around 6:26 a.m. CT, with the caller reporting that someone was driving through Boulder’s Central Park trying to run people over, police said at a news conference on Tuesday afternoon.

Officers arrived on the scene in about a minute, but the truck was gone.

Following a search involving officers and the police department’s drone team, the vehicle was eventually located in a parking lot with significant damage, according to the authorities. Significant damage was done to the park, also, officials said.

After recovering the vehicle, authorities began looking into who the owner of the vehicle was. Patrol officers located the driver on foot and confirmed the man was the owner of the vehicle, police said.

Suspect Bruce A. Alvey was arrested by police later in the morning. He has been charged with four counts of attempted first-degree murder, according to the police. ABC News was unable to locate a legal representative for the suspect.

Between the time of the park incident and his arrest, the suspect broke into an animal hospital, authorities said. He was injured in the process, police said. They are currently looking into charges related to the alleged burglary.

Police are also investigating charges of driving under the influence of narcotics, in particular methamphetamine, police said.

No one was hurt in the incident, Boulder Police said in a post on X, the platform formerly known as Twitter.

“Despite some incredibly close calls, the driver narrowly missed hitting multiple people who ran to get away,” their post read. “The suspect drove in and out of the park several times and struck multiple pieces of property, enough to require the city to close the park with fencing for repairs.”

At the news conference Tuesday afternoon, Boulder’s Police Chief Maris Harold, said the incident was “really scary.”

“The thing that’s scary about this is if people would have been sleeping in their sleeping bags this morning, there would have been mass casualties at this event,” Harold also said, adding that the driver ran over some empty sleeping bags.

Copyright © 2023, ABC Audio. All rights reserved.

(PHILADELPHIA) — Temple University acting president JoAnne A. Epps died suddenly after falling ill at a memorial service at the university Tuesday afternoon, the school announced. She was 72.

Epps became unwell while attending the memorial service for Charles L. Blockson, a curator emeritus of the Blockson Afro-American Collection at Temple, who died in June, according to Temple University.

She experienced a “sudden episode,” Dr. Daniel del Portal said at a press conference. She was attended to by emergency service personnel and was transported to Temple University Hospital where resuscitation efforts continued, del Portal said. Epps was pronounced dead around 3:15 p.m., the school said.

“There are no words that can describe the gravity and sadness of this loss. President Epps was a devoted servant and friend who represented the best parts of Temple,” Mitchell L. Morgan, chair on the school’s board of trustees, Ken Kaiser, senior vice president and chief operating officer and Gregory N. Mandel, senior vice president and provost, said in a letter on the school’s website.

They added, “She spent nearly 40 years of her life serving this university, and it goes without saying her loss will reverberate through the community for years to come.”

Mandel said he and Epps became friends when he joined the school in 2007, and she was a mentor to him and for other people.

“This a tragic loss, but we know that JoAnne passed away doing something that she loved,” Mandel said.

Temple University’s board of trustees voted unanimously to appoint Epps as acting president in April, according to The Temple News.

“Pledge to you, I’m going to do my utmost best to make this place continue on the trajectory that it’s on,” Epps said, according to The Temple News. “This is a great institution. I have loved being a part of it. I’ve loved the friends I’ve made as I look around the room and just think about the family feel of Temple and I’m really honored to take on this role and I will look forward to working with all of you in the year.”

Copyright © 2023, ABC Audio. All rights reserved.

(TENNESSEE COLONY, Texas) — A Texas man convicted of murdering two elderly women and suspected of killing nearly two dozen people total was found dead in his prison cell Tuesday following an attack by his cellmate, officials said.

Texas Department of Criminal Justice officials found Billy Chemirmir, 50, dead in his cell at the Coffield Unit in Tennessee Colony, Texas, early Tuesday morning, the department said.

His cellmate, who is currently serving a murder sentence out of Harris County, was the assailant, the Texas Department of Criminal Justice said.

No further details, including the manner of death or the cellmate’s name, have been released amid an ongoing investigation by the state’s Office of Inspector General.

Chemirmir, who was a citizen of Kenya, worked as a home health care aide in several cities in north Texas before being accused of murdering his vulnerable patients and stealing their valuables.

He had been indicted on 22 capital murder charges in Dallas and Collin counties. Last year, he was found guilty of capital murder by two separate Dallas County juries for the 2018 deaths of Lu Thi Harris, 81, and Mary Brooks, 87.

In Collin County, where he was indicted on nine capital murder charges, prosecutors said last month they would not seek the death penalty in their cases, following Chemirmir’s two convictions.

“I won’t be mourning the murder of convicted serial killer Billy Chemirmir. Rather, my thoughts today are with the families of the precious ladies he murdered,” Collin County Criminal District Attorney Greg Willis said in a statement Tuesday. “These families have been through more than we can imagine, and I pray that someday they can find peace.”

Copyright © 2023, ABC Audio. All rights reserved.

(MONT BELVIEU, Texas) — A Black Texas high school student has been facing an in-school suspension (ISS) for weeks because school officials said that his dreadlocks violated their dress and grooming code.

Darryl George, a junior at Barbers Hill High School in Mont Belvieu, has been sitting on a small stool at school every school day since Aug. 31, back aching, as he receives his schoolwork online or through a classmate, according to his mother Darresha George.

“Every day my son comes home with tears in his eyes. He’s frustrated; he’s outraged, aggravated, and it’s breaking him down mentally, physically and emotionally,” Darresha George told ABC News. “I have to see him taking ibuprofen because his back hurts.”

Darryl George’s schoolwork and grades are being affected because he is not getting the benefit of complete instructions from his teachers to complete his assignments, according to his mother.

“He’s not in a class setting to where he’s sitting in front of the teacher explaining it to him like the other kids,” his mother said. “So, now he has to figure it out for himself.”

Texas enacted the CROWN Act on Sept. 1, making it unlawful to discriminate against “protective hairstyles” in schools, Allie Booker, Darresha George’s attorney, told ABC News.

“Any student dress or grooming policy adopted by a school district, including a student dress or grooming policy for any extracurricular activity, may not discriminate against a hair texture or protective hairstyle commonly or historically associated with race,” according to the CROWN Act. “‘Protective hairstyle’ includes braids, locks and twists.'”

The CROWN Act, which stands for “Creating a Respectful and Open World for Natural Hair,” was passed with a bipartisan vote in the Texas legislature and signed into law by Gov. Greg Abbott in May.

“Barbers Hill [High School] is showing their racism once again, showing their complete defiance of Texas law,” Dr. Candice Matthews, the Statewide Vice Chair of the Texas Coalition of Black Democrats and a supporter of the George family, told ABC News. “You don’t have to like the law, but you have to follow it because, one, we do not tell white people how to wear their hair. So, you’re not going to disenfranchise our people and tell us how to wear our hair.”

The Barbers Hill Independent School District told ABC News that their dress and grooming code does not conflict with the CROWN Act.

“The Barbers Hill ISD Dress and Grooming Code permits protective hairstyles, but any hairstyle must be in conformity with the requirement that male students’ hair will not extend, at any time, below the eyebrows or below the ear lobes,” the school district told ABC News in a statement. “Further, male students’ hair must not extend below the top of a t-shirt collar or be gathered or worn in a style that would allow the hair to extend below the top of a t-shirt collar, below the eyebrows, or below the ear lobes when let down.”

The school district is making an example out of Darryl George within a day of the CROWN Act’s being implemented simply to prove a point and express their disapproval of the law, Booker told ABC News.

“People do stuff like that, you know, whenever there’s a new law in place,” Booker said. “They try to thumb their nose at the law by breaking it and then arguing that a law doesn’t cover it. So that’s all they’re doing.”

Booker added that the family plans to file a discrimination lawsuit and an injunction to get him out of ISS if the school continues to punish him.

A federal version of the CROWN Act passed the House but was blocked by the Senate in 2022. Congresswoman Bonnie Watson Coleman (NJ-12), the lead sponsor of the bill, told ABC News that it is time to pass the federal CROWN Act to stop this type of discrimination from happening again.

“It’s sad to see that some people still believe protective Black hairstyles are ‘unprofessional,'” Coleman told ABC News in a statement. “It’s infuriating that school officials would impose those beliefs on the children in their charge, negatively impacting their learning. Texas has passed their version of the CROWN Act to end this practice and I hope to see Mr. George quickly return to regular classes.”

Darresha George told ABC News that the school district is trivializing her son’s dreadlocks by labeling them as a violation of the district’s dress code. His locks are a representation of his culture and spirituality, Darresha George said.

“It’s part of his roots, part of his ancestors,” his mother said. “At the ends of his hair, we have his dad’s hair, his stepdad’s hair, and his brother’s hair actually sewn into his locks. So, cutting that off is cutting them off from him.”

Copyright © 2023, ABC Audio. All rights reserved.

(ORLANDO) — An Amazon delivery driver was dropping off a package at a Florida home when she was bitten by a highly venomous eastern diamondback rattlesnake, authorities said.

The woman was hospitalized in “very serious condition,” the Martin County Sheriff’s Office said.

The incident took place Monday evening in Palm City, about 40 miles north of West Palm Beach. The snake, which was coiled up near the front door, bit the driver as she put the customer’s package down and she “immediately became ill,” the sheriff’s office said.

The victim was last listed in serious but stable condition, a sheriff’s office spokesperson said Tuesday.

“Our thoughts are with the driver and we hope for a full recovery after this frightening incident,” Amazon spokesperson Branden Baribeau said in a statement. “Together, with the Delivery Service Partner, we’re looking into the circumstances surrounding this incident and continue to make sure that drivers understand they should not complete a delivery if they feel unsafe.”

The highly venomous eastern diamondback is very common to the area, the sheriff’s office said.

The snakes are brown, yellow or tan, and they have black, brown and cream diamonds, according to the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission.

They’re an average of 3 to 6 feet long. When coiled, an eastern diamondback “can strike up to two-thirds its body length to inject its prey with venom,” the FWC said.

To avoid a rattlesnake bite, sheriff’s office spokesperson Christine Weiss recommended to always look down while walking.

“If you are scrolling through a phone while walking or at all distracted, you might not see them until it’s too late,” she told ABC News via email.

“Rattlesnakes will typically rattle, or make a distinctive defensive noise if they are agitated, feel threatened or about to strike,” she added. “So if you are wearing ear pods and not listening to the outside element, you will not likely hear that warning.”

“Use caution when moving planters, pots, pieces of lumber or even tree limbs,” Weiss continued. “Expect them. They are here and there a lot of them.”

Copyright © 2023, ABC Audio. All rights reserved.

(LAHAINA, Hawaii) — West Maui, an area devastated by wildfires that ravaged the historic town of Lahaina less than two months ago, is set to reopen for visitors on Oct. 8. Lahaina will remain fully closed to the public until further notice, according to the Hawaiian Tourism Authority.

The decision to open up for tourism has prompted outrage from some residents, many of whom remain displaced and have yet to pick up the pieces of their destroyed homes.

Jeremy Delos Reyes, one of the roughly 7,500 displaced residents, is living with his family at a nearby hotel and is angered to learn that the state is planning for the return of visitors to the disaster area. Reyes has lived on Maui for 48 years.

“Why am I stuck at a resort right now every day, waking up wondering if me and my wife and my family are going to get kicked out because tourists need a place to stay?” he told ABC News in an interview.

He continued: “Why do these displaced people that lost family members — lost everything they own — have to go to work now and put on a smile to serve cocktails, to bring towels, to clean their room? How would that make you feel if you lost your family and everything you own?”

Oct. 8 will mark two months since the wildfires began their destruction.

Displaced residents say they have yet to revisit their old homes, as they await clearance from federal and local agencies to clear the areas as safe from hazardous materials and poor air quality. The disaster area is restricted to authorized personnel only, and many areas still don’t have access to clean, safe drinking water.

Many children from the region are still being transported to schools outside of West Maui, with expectations that schools will start up around Oct. 13 if they prove to be safe for return.

Jordan Ruidas, a resident and community organizer, has created a petition to delay the reopening of West Maui that has gathered more than 5,000 signatures.

“With it being exactly two months after the tragic fires … it seemed like a slap in the face honestly,” she told ABC News in an interview.

Ruidas said she and others know that West Maui will eventually need to open, “but what’s concerning to me is our government officials have not hit certain benchmarks that a lot of us working class, Lahaina locals feel like we need before we can even start to get back to some kind of normalcy.”

However, some business owners in the region are anxious for economic support.

Noah Drazkowski, who was born and raised in West Maui and owns a local business, said his feelings are mixed about the reopening. The majority of his income comes from tourism, he says. The impact of the fire has compounded on top of the economic hit the COVID-19 pandemic had on his business.

“Being born and raised here, it’s difficult to want to reopen and that tourism is going to come back in,” Drazkowski said. “But as a business owner, I know that we need it. I know that our families need it. You know, we need to be able to get back to some kind of normalcy to help push forward.”

Tourism accounts for a large chunk of Maui County’s economy. According to the Maui Economic Development Board, approximately 70% of every dollar is generated directly or indirectly by the visitor industry. The board calls tourism the “economic engine” for the County of Maui.

Some residents don’t want it to be this way, arguing that the annexation of the Hawaiian Islands has impacted the ownership of land and water for Native Hawaiians. Maui has been under water restrictions in recent years amid an ongoing drought and has been facing a housing crisis, as costs skyrocket.

As residents continue to grieve, some fear the devastation will be exploited by visitors gawking at the tragedy.

Those who do decide to come when West Maui opens, residents ask that they be respectful of the grieving city. Drazkowski recommends volunteering in the recovery efforts while on vacation if possible.

“We went through a crisis. We went through a natural disaster. A lot of families are still grieving and still processing and they don’t really want to see, they don’t really want to see anyone on the side of the road trying to take pictures of what happened to their home,” said Drazkowski.

Copyright © 2023, ABC Audio. All rights reserved.