FLOYD BENNETT FIELD – A rainy and foggy morning served as the backdrop for a bipartisan group of elected officials — which included Rep. Nicole Malliotakis (R-Southwest Brooklyn-Staten Island) — seeking to revoke the migrant shelter lease at Floyd Bennett Field on Thursday.
The objective at the modestly attended press conference was to urge U.S. Sen. Majority Leader Charles Schumer (D-N.Y.) to pass Malliotakis’ bill — the Protecting our Communities from Failure to Secure the Border Act of 2023 (H.R. 5283) – prohibiting federal funding from being used to provide housing for migrants on any federal parkland and retroactively abolishing the lease agreement at Floyd Bennett Field.
The bill was passed by the House with bipartisan support on Nov. 30, 2023, but Schumer has yet to bring the bill for a vote in the Senate. The senator could not be reached for comment.
“I know this bill would pass the Senate if [Schumer] brought it to the floor for a vote,” Malliotakis said, “because a majority of the people in the Senate do not feel that our federal land should be used and turned into migrant encampments.”
Malliotakis was joined by Assemblymember Jaime Williams of southeastern Brooklyn (D-59), City Councilmember Joann Ariola (R-32/Jamaica Bay and Rockaway), and Ken Spencer, chairman of the U.S. Park Police, Fraternal Order of Police (FOP).
“The reality of this is that it just simply isn’t sustainable,” Malliotakis continued. “It’s not a matter of compassion; it’s a matter of having our laws enforced and making sure we know who is coming in and out of our country — and that it’s done in an appropriate way.”
Malliotakis said she is a staunch supporter of “legal immigration.”
“It has to be done the way our families came — where it’s orderly and in the rightful way,” she noted.
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