Former Democratic National Committee Chairman and current White House senior adviser Tom Perez is said to have sent thousands of people to Floyd Bennett Field in Brooklyn, according to House Republicans investigating the Biden administration’s handling of the border crisis. It is said that the city played an “important role” in the resettlement of immigrants.
House Natural Resources Committee Chairman Bruce Westerman (R-Arkansas) said in a letter obtained exclusively by the Post that Perez, who is also the White House Director of Intergovernmental Affairs, “requires the federal government to respond to the migrant crisis.” “We are coordinating our response,” he said. This included disembarking approximately 2,000 immigrants onto the shores of Jamaica Bay.
“The committee is deeply concerned about the Biden administration’s management of America’s public lands and the unprecedented situation.”[ed] “The decision is to use national park land as a migrant encampment,” said Oversight and Investigation Natural Resources Subcommittee Chairman Paul Gosar (R-Ariz.) and Westerman (R-Ariz.); wrote the seven New York Republicans who signed the letter.
Among the signatories was Elise Stefanik, chair of the House Republican Conference. Staten Island Congresswoman Nicole Malliotakis. Long Island State Representatives Anthony D’Esposito, Nick Larota, Andrew Garbarino, and Nick Langworthy. and Upstate Rep. Claudia Tenney.
Perez traveled to New York to meet with Governor Kathy Hochul before the Biden administration made what Westerman called an “unprecedented decision” to lease National Park Service (NPS) land in August 2023. He also met with New York Mayor Eric Adams in Washington. Immigrant encampment.
Hochul confirmed to Gothamist that same month that lobbying by Empire State officials forced the NPS and the Department of the Interior to change federal regulations to allow the construction of encampments.
“A month ago, the answer was ‘no’. This is land owned by the Department of the Interior and the National Park, and shelters are not allowed on that property,” she said. told the outlet. “So I see this as an important development for the Washington administration to recognize that more support is needed here.”
Republicans said in the letter that since then, “New York City’s immigration crisis has continued unabated,” urging Perez to address the Floyd Bennett Field encampment and the “legality of immigrant housing on federal land.” It requested that the relevant records be handed over by May. 3.
Adams spokesperson Said In November, it was announced that the mayor’s team was in “regular contact” with Perez on issues related to migrants seeking asylum in the city, and that members of the commission had also requested contact. was.
The Post exclusively reported that Hochul’s administration welcomed Perez into the Empire State Development Authority’s VIP suite at Highmark Stadium in January for the Buffalo Bills AFC playoff game against the Kansas City Chiefs. Ta.
Last month, commission members wrote in a letter to the NPS that the alarming “increase in crime” stemming from the encampment at Floyd Bennett Field “creates a fundamental threat to park employees, area residents, and immigrants.” Warning of significant safety risks.
These include reports of panhandling scams, shoplifting, assaults and domestic violence within the park and surrounding areas.
City Hall hired a private security firm to monitor the outpost, which the councilors said “hindered” NYPD officers from responding to the incident on at least one occasion.
The Adams administration has hosted more than 65,000 immigrants in New York City, spending $387 per immigrant household per day to feed and house them.
This could cost the city up to $10 billion by next fiscal year.
