Two candidates are vying to replace the ousted former congressman. George Santos, who faces a special House election next week, clashed on Monday over a $118 billion Senate deal that would crack down on border crossings and provide aid to Israel and Ukraine.
Former Democratic Congressman Tom Suozzi embraced the compromise as a sensible “bipartisan” solution to the immigration crisis, but Republican Maj. Pilip said it was a green light for an “invasion” at the southern border. he vehemently criticized.
The election-year bill is opposed by former President Donald Trump, a likely 2024 Republican White House nominee, and is considered dead upon arrival in the Republican-led House.
The measure would provide about $20 billion to crack down on illegal immigration at the southern border, where more than 2.4 million people were encountered in fiscal year 2023 and New York City was overrun with 170,000 migrants.
One provision would allow federal authorities to shut down entry points if encounters reach an average of 5,000 a day over a seven-day period, or 8,500 a day.
“The proposed Senate border agreement is a complete non-starter for me because it would only legislate the aggression that is currently occurring on our southern border,” Pillip said in a statement, adding that the border He added that the closure criteria will result in at least 1.5 million additional immigrants entering our country. Even if it is enforced.
“That’s really scary,” the Republican said.
Meanwhile, Suozzi held a Zoom news conference to support a bill that portrayed Pilip as siding with Trump and Republican hardliners rather than addressing illegal immigration.
Democrats said the bill would increase funding to hire more border and asylum workers, strengthen refugee policies and provide $1.4 billion for New York City and other local governments to help migrants.
“There’s a clear contrast between me and my opponent. I support that…I support this comprehensive bipartisan solution to address the immigration crisis,” Suozzi said. Pilip added, “We’re making a bid…” Republican extremists in the same party who support former President Trump said, “We don’t want to make a deal because we don’t want to give Biden the victory.”
“That’s scary. What would you do instead?” the Democrat added.
Although President Biden supports the Senate bill and has promised to sign it once it reaches his desk, Suozzi said the president should have addressed the crisis sooner.
“Throughout this campaign, I have advocated for securing our borders, as the immigration crisis brought on by Tom Suozzi and Joe Biden is having a severe negative quality of life impact on CD-3 residents. ,” Pilip said. “This deal does not achieve that goal at all.”
The Republican also opposed tying aid to Israel and Ukraine to a border deal, saying all three issues should be treated separately.
The immigration crisis has emerged as a key issue in the special election for New York’s 3rd Congressional District, which includes much of Nassau County and parts of northern Queens.
Bad feelings over the issue have been building in recent days after it was revealed that immigrants accused of assaulting two police officers in Times Square had been released and fled to California instead of being held pending trial. reached a boiling point.
Monday was the third day of nine days of early voting ahead of the Feb. 13 special election.
As of 2 p.m. Monday, 19,714 Nassau residents had voted in the race, including 8,497 Democrats, 6,770 Republicans, 3,735 registered independents, and hundreds of minor party registrants. The county election board reported that there is.
The New York City Board of Elections reported that 3,519 Queens residents had voted in the race by Monday.
