Staten Island politicians gathered on Wednesday outside Fort Wadsworth to oppose plans that would see the decommissioned military base used for temporary migrant housing.
U.S. Rep. Nicole Malliotakis told the attendees that all the elected officials who represent Staten Island, whether Republican and Democrat, oppose the plan.
“I really hope that the mayor, the governor and the president are listening,” Malliotakis said.
The Republican congress member led the bipartisan group of elected officials during the Wednesday afternoon rally, which came in response to reports that the city is talking with the Department of Homeland Security about potentially leasing land at Fort Wadsworth to house migrants.
As asylum seekers continue to pour into the Big Apple, with over 100,000 refugees arriving since last spring, city officials have scrambled to find enough space to accommodate the influx of people — and have turned to using parks and other public spaces for temporary housing.
Just under 60,000 migrants are currently in the city’s care, including nearly 20,000 children.
So far, large-scale migrant tents have been set up in places like Randall’s Island, Floyd Bennett Field in Brooklyn, and the Creedmoor Psychiatric Center in Queens.
Now, with rumors swirling about a potential deal to house refugees at Fort Wadsworth, local electeds are looking to stop the idea in its tracks.
Malliotakis announced Wednesday that she would be introducing a bill in the nation’s legislature that would ban the use of any national park, including Fort Wadsworth, for sheltering migrants. She claims the proposal has bipartisan backing.
“I intend for that legislation to become law,” she said.
Fort Wadsworth is managed by the National Park Service and includes 226 acres of land. It was decommissioned as an active military base in 1994, although it still provides space for training members of the U.S. Army Reserves and houses members of the U.S. Coast Guard.
However, the base now serves mostly as a sprawling park for visitors. There are also tours for history buffs.
Malliotakis lamented the idea that the land would be taken away from the community in an effort to house migrants.
“Stop taking away spaces, schools, parks, assisted living facilities from tax-paying citizens who built these communities. It is wrong, it needs to stop,” the congress member said. “We are a compassionate city, we are a compassionate nation, but we’re not a bunch of chumps and this needs to stop today.”
Staten Island Borough President Vito Fossella joined the press conference on Wednesday echoing Malliotakis’ concerns.
“I grew up right outside Fort Wadsworth, my family’s been there since 1947. We were taught to respect what’s behind this fence,” he said. “Now how can we?”
Assembly Member Michael Tannousis, whose district covers Fort Wadsworth, called the situation at the border untenable, and called for a hiatus on the country accepting asylum seekers.
“We’re not against immigration,” he said. “We are against stupid decisions, we need to close the border, there needs to be control. The City of New York needs to find a better way and a long-term solution to this problem.”
Republican City Council Member Joe Borelli agreed, calling for the city to send refugees elsewhere, rather than providing them with temporary housing in the five boroughs.
“The response has to start tomorrow, and it has to start tomorrow in the Port Authority Bus Terminal. And instead of standing out there with a dopey smile and handshake, we need someone out there to say, turn the bus around, go back somewhere else — go to Washington, go somewhere else, because New Yorkers are sick and tired of being sick and tired,” Borelli said.
For their part, city leaders have called on the federal government to do more to help the situation. They say that Washington has stepped up to meet the needs of new immigrants in the past, such as when European refugees immigrated to the U.S. after World War II, or Vietnamese immigrants arrived in the seventies, or Cubans in ’79-’80.
“In each of those cases, the federal government led a significant process where they provided for people’s immediate humanitarian needs,” said New York City Emergency Management Commissioner Zach Iscol on Wednesday. “They screened out folks that should not be here for some reason, they provided medical care to those who needed it, and then they helped resettle people across the country. They helped expedite work authorizations, they helped people find their sponsors.”
“And when the federal government has acted in that way, it hasn’t been charity. It’s been an investment. And if you look at the contributions made by each of those communities to this country, it’s substantial.”
Read more: Feds Approve Migrant Shelter at Brooklyn’s Floyd Bennett Field
