Press Releases

Washington, DC – U.S. Rep. Marc Molinaro (NY-19) today held a virtual press conference to call for a special session of the NYS Legislature to address the migrant crisis. Rep. Molinaro was joined by New York State Senators Peter Oberacker and Tom O’Mara as well as New York State Assemblymembers Joe Angelino, Brian Maher, Brian Miller, and Scott Bendett.

During the special session, Rep. Molinaro is urging action on legislation to prevent New York City from moving migrants to Upstate New York and the removal of NYS’s Sanctuary State designation.

Rep. Molinaro said, “Today, I stood alongside Senate and Assembly Republicans to call for a special session of the State Legislature to address the migrant crisis. Over 110,00 migrants are currently in New York City, with more coming. We have seen this massive influx put enormous pressure on social services in New York City, so much so that Mayor Adams is now saying the crisis will ‘destroy’ the City.”

Rep. Molinaro continued, “Upstate communities already struggle to meet the needs of their residents. We can’t allow what’s happening in the City to happen in Upstate NY. We need a special session in Albany, and action in Washington on the House-passed border security and immigration reform bill.”

Assembly Minority Leader Will Barclay said, “New Yorkers are rightly concerned with the migrant crisis, as Democrats at the state and federal level have done little to prepare for the wave of migrants the state is seeing. New York City has failed to deal with this problem so it is instead pushing it upstate. From the start, the Assembly Republican Conference has offered solutions to keep tabs on public dollars going toward the migrant crisis, create a system for desperately needed background checks, protect schools and childcare centers from being overtaken for migrant shelters and call on the federal government to provide New York with the financial aid it needs to address this crisis. I applaud Rep. Marc Molinaro for bringing together officials to work on this looming problem.”

Senator Peter Oberacker said, “In May when the migrant crisis exploded across New York I called for accountability and transparency from New York City, Albany, and Washington D.C. – and that call has gone completely unanswered. It is past time to bring the state legislature back to Albany to map out a clear path forward.  Additionally, we need to ensure that the wishes of our local communities are honored and respected.”

Senator Tom O'Mara said, "I’m fully supportive of a safe and responsible system of legal immigration in this nation.  But this failure of leadership at the state and federal levels has led to chaos. Upstate localities have every right to protect their communities from an onslaught of asylum seekers that threaten to overrun local resources, social services, schools, and budgets, to mention nothing of the public health and safety concerns. It’s a failed response and our local communities should never be forced to bail the sanctuary city Democrats out of a disaster of their own making."

Assemblyman Joe Angelino said, "Any crisis we face demands leadership to help mitigate the issue at hand. Presently, New York City and the state as a whole are dealing with a crisis of migrants flowing in from both borders into our state. The legislature needs to be back in Albany setting in place legislation to protect Upstate New Yorkers who chose to not be sanctuary jurisdiction, protect our tax dollars and protect our workforce from a flood of people into the labor pool. All of this starts with sealing our nation's borders."

Assemblyman Brian Maher said, "Our state and our communities need help. We have thousands of people we cannot care for, yet we continue to defend and double down on policies that will continue to flood our borders and communities even more. It started in New York City, but now the state is hemorrhaging. This is no longer a partisan issue, it's a state-wide issue that needs to be addressed immediately."

In Congress, Rep. Molinaro voted to pass a border security and immigration reform bill, joined Congressmen Pat Ryan and Mike Lawler in calling for the President to declare a Federal State of Emergency, and authored and passed bipartisan legislation to prevent Governor Hochul from transforming K-12 schools into migrant shelters.