STATEN ISLAND, NY -Congresswoman Nicole Malliotakis (NY-11) on August 23 joined a bipartisan group of local elected officials to renew calls for the Biden Administration, New York Governor Kathy Hochul and New York City Mayor Eric Adams to drop any plans to use Staten Island’s Fort Wadsworth as a migrant shelter.
Last week, Malliotakis led a bipartisan letter signed by every elected official on Staten Island to the Biden Administration, Governor Hochul and Mayor Adams condemning the proposal after a U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) “assessment team” was recently spotted reviewing the park.
“Fort Wadsworth is a historic gem cherished by the Staten Island community and utilized by our brave U.S. Coast Guard service members and U.S. Park Police for both housing and operations. It also houses a food pantry for service members and veterans who certainly should be prioritized over citizens of other countries,” Malliotakis said.”Any plan to house thousands of migrants here would cause irreparable damage to not only the physical condition of this park, but decimate local tourism and impact public safety in the surrounding community. This plan cannot move forward and we stand united and ready to fight tooth and nail to ensure it doesn’t.”
At the press conference, Malliotakis unveiled new legislation to prevent the city, state and federal government from placing a migrant shelter at Fort Wadsworth, one of the oldest military installations in the U.S. that currently serves as a domicile and an operational base for members of the U.S. Coast Guard and the U.S. Park Police. Malliotakis’ legislation would prohibit the use of any funds to house migrants on any lander under the jurisdiction of the federal land management agencies specifically National Park Land, Bureau of Land Management, United States Fish and Wildlife and National Forest land from being used to house citizens of other countries. Her legislation would also prevent and federal land management agency from leasing, contracting, or entering agreements to house migrant populations.
Malliotakis added: “I’m announcing new legislation today to prevent government from moving forward with this plan so we can protect our historic park land and all federal lands from the crisis at the southern border and pushing back on the Biden Administration’s attempts to force New York City residents to foot the bill for a crisis they singlehandedly created. Instead of incentivizing illegal migration with free housing and healthcare, the Mayor should stop misinterpreting New York City’s ‘Right to Shelter’ law and the Senate should take up House Republicans’ border security bill to stop the flow at our southern border once and for all.”
