House subpoenas DHS for records on ‘shady backroom deals’ that set up migrant camp at Floyd Bennett Field
A Republican-led House committee issued a subpoena to the Department of Homeland Security on Friday, demanding records about the “shady backroom deals” that set up a migrant camp at Floyd Bennett Field in Brooklyn.
The House Natural Resources Committee ordered Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas to hand over the documents after his agency “repeatedly blocked congressional inquiries” and “failed to even acknowledge” others about the shelter for 2,000 migrants on the shore of Jamaica Bay.
“Using national parks to house migrants and cover up Joe Biden and Kamala Harris’ border crisis is an egregious misuse of our national treasures. This sets a concerning precedent for the future of our public lands,” Natural Resources Committee Chairman Bruce Westerman (R-Ark.) said in a statement.
“This committee has conducted months of oversight on the shady backroom deals that resulted in a ramshackle, crime-ridden encampment built in a national park,” he added.
“Today, I’m using the committee’s full authority to get to the bottom of this disastrous decision and hold the Biden-Harris administration accountable for desecrating America’s most treasured public landscapes.”
Evidence obtained by the panel shows that the Department of Homeland Security was “principally involved” in the effort to transform the National Park Service (NPS) land into a migrant encampment last year, along with the Biden White House.
Republican committee members noted months before that coordination among White House senior adviser Tom Perez, New York Gov. Kathy Hochul and New York City Mayor Eric Adams helped relax federal rules to establish the tent shelter in August 2023.
Wenstrup’s panel is still seeking the initial lease agreement between the federal agencies involved — including DHS and the Interior Department — and Empire State officials.
The Natural Resources Committee demanded all documents be turned in by Aug. 23.
The decision has since rankled Brooklyn residents who have observed many migrants panhandling in nearby neighborhoods — and has led to a surge in crimes such as assaults, shoplifting and prostitution.
In January, James Madison High School students were also kicked out of their classrooms to let the Floyd Bennett Field migrants take shelter in their gym during a night of heavy wind and rain.
“Since this shady, backdoor lease was signed nearly one year ago, I’ve been the only NYC member working alongside the House Committee on Natural Resources to conduct oversight as to how it came about, and bring attention to how the surrounding Brooklyn community has been terrorized by widespread criminality, including panhandling, domestic violence, shoplifting, and prostitution,” Staten Island GOP Rep. Nicole Malliotakies told The Post.
“Not only did Senator Schumer kill my legislation that passed the House with bipartisan support to terminate the lease and shut down the encampment, every step of the way the Biden Administration has obstructed our investigation,” she said.
“I applaud Chairman Westerman for using our Congressional authority to expose this raw deal and hold those responsible accountable for entering an agreement that violates the National Environmental Policy and National Park Service Organic Acts,” she added.
Big Apple residents and other elected officials have since rallied to oppose the re-signing of the encampment’s lease this year, slamming local, state and federal officials for having “illegals … prioritized over New Yorkers.”
“There are other places now that the migrants from that base camp can go,” City Councilwoman Joann Ariola (R-Brooklyn) said at the raucous June 23 rally. “We need to be able to go to our national park and enjoy it. That was taken from us.”
“The Department continues to work extensively and in good faith with the Committee on this request, including by providing a transcribed interview and hundreds of pages of documents to date,” a DHS spokesperson told the Post.
“The Committee issued a subpoena for political posturing, rather than continuing to engage in voluntary processes that have consistently fulfilled its requests,” the spokesperson charged. “DHS specified a date by which it would be able to make further productions and offered to negotiate.”
