Biden Administration Strongly Opposes GOP Bill To Ban Migrant Housing

(UnitedHeadlines.com) – On Nov. 27, the White House stated that the Biden administration was “strongly opposed” to legislation proposed by House Republicans designed to stop migrants from being housed on federal land.

The bill would prohibit federal funds from being used to provide housing to “certain noncitizens,” including migrants who are seeking asylum, on properties under the jurisdiction of the Forest Service, the National Park Service, the Bureau of Land Management and the United States Fish and Wildlife Service. The legislation was introduced in August by New York Rep. Nicole Malliotakis, and several Republican co-sponsors, including New York Rep. Elise Stefanik. It then advanced out of the House Natural Resources Committee.

House Committee on Natural Resources Chairman, Arkansas Rep. Bruce Westerman, stated that allowing the construction of migrant camps “on some of America’s most treasured lands” is an attempt to “permanently alter our national parks.” He added that President Joe Biden’s failed border policies would be “coming to a park near you.”

The legislation “would significantly restrict” the Department of Agriculture and the Department of the Interior from making decisions about the “appropriate uses of their lands and resources,” according to a statement from the Office of Management and Budget. The statement stopped short of saying President Joe Biden would veto the proposed legislation.

A clause in the bill would stop a lease agreement between New York City and the federal government that would allow the city to use Brooklyn’s Floyd Bennett Field as an emergency shelter for about 2,000 migrants. New York City Mayor Eric Adams announced the agreement in September.

In a statement, Malliotakis said that Biden created the crisis and “unfairly wants to continue taking tax dollars and public spaces” from American citizens in order “to perpetuate it.”

She stated that people in her district “have had enough” of the Biden administration’s “self-created migrant crisis.” She added that she looks forward to House Republicans passing the bill as a “clear message” to Biden.