Since President took office, every American community has become a border community. More than 1.5 million migrants have crossed our southern border illegally in the past six months, straining available resources beyond the breaking point and driving up cartel crime from coast to coast.
Now, the Biden-Harris administration’s inaction is jeopardizing our country’s crown jewels, our national park sites, and putting Americans’ safety at risk. Nearly a year ago, the National Park Service and the state of New York rushed a shady backdoor lease to “temporarily” house migrants at Floyd Bennett Field in Brooklyn. Since then, community members have lost recreational space, seen panhandling at all hours of day and night, and are being terrorized by migrants’ attempts to extort drivers by jumping in front of their moving cars.
The community also lives with widespread reports of criminality in the area, including domestic violence, shoplifting and prostitution. In addition, migrants at Floyd Bennett Field are subjected to hazardous living conditions and a lack of security, a result of park police resources being stretched thin. How did we get here? It started when the Biden-Harris administration initiated the lease to help mitigate their inability to stop the flow of migrants over the southern border.
As hotels and other landmarks across New York City were repurposed and filled with migrants, officials looked for a location where migrants could be processed and housed out of the public eye and away from the news cameras. Settling on Floyd Bennett Field — a beloved park that historically saw more than 1 million visitors annually — federal and state officials ignored community concerns, hazardous conditions and federal laws to forge ahead. By evading laws like the National Environmental Protection Act, Democrats embraced a “rules for thee, but not for me” attitude as they attempted to distract us from the dangerous influx of migrants and drugs into our country.
It’s important to note that when Republicans work to update the act and fix the broken permitting system hampering the construction of roads, bridges and reliable energy projects in our country, Democrats say we are “subverting bedrock environmental law” and “fundamentally threatening the environment.” But when that same law stands in the way of a Biden-Harris administration priority, it is no longer essential. The rushed leasing process served as the catalyst for a terrible and avoidable situation last fall when flooding, a known hazard at Floyd Bennett Field, forced thousands of migrants to shelter at James Madison High School, forcing students to move to virtual learning and leaving parents fuming.
For those keeping score, that means the Biden-Harris administration’s inaction at the border has closed recreational space, including the only campground in New York City, created a new standard for administration officials looking to cover their tracks and ejected American students out of their school and classrooms. The House Committee on Natural Resources is working to hold the Biden-Harris administration and New York officials accountable for the disaster they’ve created. Last fall, we visited the Roosevelt Hotel and Floyd Bennett Field so members could see the areas that the lease would directly affect.
The committee brought local residents and elected officials to Washington to publicly share the dysfunction they’ve witnessed and sent countless oversight inquiries to the Biden-Harris administration investigating the origins of the lease and the decision-making surrounding it. The Protecting Our Communities From Failure to Secure the Border Act of 2023, addressed many of the concerns brought before the committee and would prohibit federal funding from being used to house migrants on any federal lands. It passed the House of Representatives last Nov.
30 with bipartisan support and is awaiting Senate action. Unfortunately, Brooklyn’s own Charles E. Schumer, the Senate majority leader, would rather ignore what’s happening in his home borough than protect his constituents.
President is either asleep at the wheel or hellbent on turning every community and green space across the nation into a border community plagued by rising migrant crime and quality-of-life issues. He must take responsibility for the disaster on our southern border and reverse his executive actions that created this mess. Copyright © 2024 The Washington Times, LLC.
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