Condemning the Use of Elementary and Secondary School Facilities to Provide Shelter for Aliens Who Are Not Admitted to the United States

Floor Speech

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Ms. MALLIOTAKIS. Madam Speaker, I thank the chairwoman for yielding me some time.

Madam Speaker, as a Representative in New York City, I am all too familiar, unfortunately, with this situation. Quite frankly, this is a problem that was created by two people. First, our President decided it was a good idea to open our borders and allow millions of individuals to come in without the proper vetting, without knowing exactly what their intentions are.

Some, yes, are applying for asylum, but they should still be doing so through the proper channels. They should be doing so from the next safe country, not coming to the southern border.

With that said, we look at court documents and we see that roughly 60 percent of those individuals are having those court cases denied under this administration, which tells you that the majority of people coming over our southern border are not legitimate asylum seekers.

Secondly, I blame the problem in New York City on my mayor, Mayor Eric Adams, because he is misinterpreting New York City's right-to- shelter law. That was a court decree under Mayor Ed Koch that was agreed to to address the issue of homeless New Yorkers.

It was always intended to provide support and housing for homeless New Yorkers, citizens of New York, not individuals who just strolled over the border last week.

Think about this: By the mayor's logic, everyone in New York City is entitled to shelter whether they are a citizen or not. If all 6 million people who came over our border came to New York City, they would be entitled to free shelter.

If 8 billion on the planet came to New York City, they would be entitled to free shelter. Clearly, the mayor's interpretation is nonsensical.

The mayor has now resorted to using all sorts of facilities meant for our citizens, including our children, to be used to house these migrants.

Now, first of all, I think it is clear--and I see that there is bipartisan opposition to schools and their gymnasiums being taken away from children who suffered under COVID. They lacked physical education. They lacked socialization. Now, to take away their gym for this housing is absolutely ridiculous.

The mayor has reversed course on that after there was so much opposition from the people in the city of New York, but he is still using old schools. Facilities that were previously Catholic schools that have closed that were perhaps going to to be utilized as public schools, that has now stopped because the mayor is choosing instead to house migrants in those old schools.

Now, the greatest plan or, I should say, the most ridiculous plan we have heard to date is now he is going to use taxpayer money to pay New Yorkers to house individuals in their homes. We are talking about billions and billions of dollars a year. Hardworking taxpayers are getting pummeled in New York City, because property taxes are increasing year after year. People can't afford their own rent. They can't afford their own roofs. He is saying you have to pay for individuals who cross into our country illegally.

It is a disgrace. We should be stopping it and make sure not another Federal dollar, not a penny, goes to fund the expansion of this program. The mayor needs to comply with the actual laws and tell the President to secure the border and stop this nonsense.

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