7 months ago
25
Since spring 2022, New York City has seen more than 100,000 people arrive seeking asylum. Because our current immigration system has been gridlocked by Republican xenophobia and inaction for more than a decade, this has forced localities to try their best to come up with legal solutions. Big Apple Mayor Eric Adams recently announced a deal with the federal government to lease Floyd Bennett Field, a former Navy airfield, and use it for emergency shelter for many of the asylum-seekers.
Republican Rep. Nicole Malliotakis of New York brought Republican City Council Member Joann Ariola and conservative Democratic Assemblywoman Jaime Williams to Washington, D.C., to air their grievances over the federally controlled site being used for such humanitarian purposes. The political-stunt nature of another conservative hearing was not lost on fellow New York Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez. In a video posted by The Majority Report, Ocasio-Cortez asked Ariola, “Are you aware that seeking asylum is a lawful immigration process?” Ariola, in a piss-poor attempt at being clever, responded, “When it has been deemed to be asylum. It has not yet been deemed to be asylum-seekers [sic]”
Ocasio-Cortez quickly shut her down. “Are you aware that [the] application you have to arrive in the United States in order to apply for asylum?” Ariola had to agree to that real bit of logic. “Great,” AOC said. “So arrival is also part of that lawful process.”
The New York congresswoman then gave a most eloquent speech that broke down how unproductive and pointless this Republican-created exercise was.
