The House Natural Resources Committee held a hearing after the Biden administration stated it wanted to make National Park Service (NPS) land available to build camps to house migrants.
"The Biden administration's border policies continue to tarnish every aspect of American life. ... but now the administration is attempting to permanently alter our national parks by permitting the construction of migrant camps on some of America's most treasured lands," committee Chairman Bruce Westerman said in a statement.
The Republican congressman added that "according to this precedent, President Biden's failing border policies are coming to a park near you. The National Park Service wouldn't even send a representative today to defend its decision before Congress, but the National Park Service and the Department of the Interior are hiding behind Biden and his political minions. Congress has a duty to conduct oversight and this committee will not tolerate seeing Biden's bad policy destroy one of America's best ideas."
Chairman @RepWesterman ➡️ "Now, the Biden administration is looking to spread this chaos to one of America's greatest ideas: our national parks." pic.twitter.com/ykwUMsHY0S
— House Committee on Natural Resources (@NatResources) September 27, 2023
More than 100,000 immigrants have arrived in New York in the last year and a half
This hearing was held after the mayor of the self-proclaimed sanctuary city of New York, Eric Adams, agreed with the federal administration to build a migrant camp to accommodate 2,000 people in Floyd Bennett Field, a former airfield located in the Gateway National Recreation Area and belonging to the NPS.
Westerman explained that "Biden’s failed border policies and the resultant migrant crisis are overwhelming NYC. Notably, NYC Mayor Eric Adams, a Democrat, recently made national news by stating that the Biden administration's current immigration policies will 'destroy the City.'"
The chairman of the House Natural Resources Committee also recalled that New York has "a 'right to shelter' law," by which taxpayers pay for the shelter and food for immigrants, even if they are illegal.
Bipartisan criticism of immigrant camp construction at Floyd Bennett Field
At Wednesday's hearing, New York City Assembly members from both parties appeared and criticized the idea of using Floyd Bennett Field as a shelter for immigrants.
Jaime Williams, a Democratic, noted that the land is "a transit desert and has no infrastructure, no plumbing, no electricity, no sewage system." Joann Ariola, a Republican, posted on X:
Placing a migrant base camp at Floyd Bennett Field without any community say on the matter is a violation of the democratic ideals that have guided the National Park Service since the agency’s inception
— Joann Ariola NYC Council District 32 (@JoannAriola32) September 27, 2023
