Today, the Subcommittee on Oversight and Investigations held a hearing on how President Joe Biden's open border policies have desecrated National Park Service (NPS) property and the adjacent local community in New York City (NYC). Subcommittee Chairman Paul Gosar (R-Ariz.) issued the following statement in response:

"Since taking office, Joe Biden has rolled back many of President Trump’s strict immigration policies and has welcomed tens of millions of illegal aliens into our country.  Migrant encampments on America’s precious federal lands are being used to shelter thousands of illegal aliens, ignoring repeated concerns raised by law enforcement and local residents. Housing illegals on national park land is neither an appropriate use of our nation’s most treasured places nor does it address the Biden administration’s border crisis.  Left unchecked, this flawed policy could expand into other public lands and national parks, transforming the legacy of our park system from one of natural beauty to a pay to play system prioritizing illegals over our shared national and cultural history."

Background

After signing a lease with NYC in summer 2023, the Biden administration established a migrant encampment at Floyd Bennett Field (FBF), part of the Gateway National Recreation Area in NYC. House Committee on Natural Resources Republicans have worked diligently to push back against this abuse of power and the misuse and denied access to our federal lands. The committee has held multiple hearings to hold the Biden administration accountable and hear directly from the impacted communities on the nature of this unprecedented lease agreement. The committee has also worked on legislative solutions to this problem through H.R. 5283, the Protecting our Communities from Failure to Secure the Border Act of 2023, which prohibits federal funding from being used to house illegal immigrants on any federal lands. This legislation passed out of committee on October 26, 2023.  H.R. 5283 passed the House of Representatives on November 29, 2023.

Chairman Westerman and other Republican members traveled to the FBF site in September 2023 and saw firsthand how the Biden administration is denying NYC residents access to this recreational resource by turning it into a migrant encampment.  

Virtually every major concern the committee raised has come to fruition. Widespread reports of criminality in and around the FBF migrant camp include domestic violence, assault, shoplifting, prostitution and panhandling scams. However, Biden administration officials responsible for FBF mutating into a migrant camp have evaded congressional oversight and accountability.

The committee has launched a thorough investigation into the FBF lease, which involves requests for document productions, briefings and interviews from several federal agencies, including the Department of the Interior’s NPS, Department of Homeland Security, Council on Environmental Quality and White House officials. On October 18, 2023, the committee highlighted how the Biden administration’s decision to house migrants on federal land set a dangerous precedent that, left unchecked, could expand into other national parks and public lands.

Today's hearing continued to hold Biden administration officials accountable for this disaster and hear from Brooklyn community members and leaders about the destruction of this beloved local landmark because of Biden's unchecked border crisis. The Committee remains committed to holding the Biden administration accountable for the unprecedented act of housing migrants on National Park Service lands.