Paladino and AOC debate on immigration crisis

 

 Queens Chronicle

Community Board 7’s meeting on Monday quickly became a battleground over the politically divisive migrant crisis between possibly the two most ideologically opposed politicians in Queens: Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-Bronx, Queens) and Councilmember Vickie Paladino (R-Whitestone).

The board used the congresswoman’s rare visit as an opportunity for residents to ask questions. When one person inquired as to what is being done to ease the effects of the city’s influx of migrants, Ocasio-Cortez explained that the city just recently applied for some of the funding Congress authorized in December for the Federal Emergency Management Agency.

She added that hotel groups, among other kinds of companies, want migrants to fill their job vacancies, and have asked that the Biden administration speed up the work authorization process to make it happen.

That’s when Paladino cut in: “You’ve been talking about immigration — you and I are going to disagree vehemently on that.”

“To say we’ve passed our maximum capacity doesn’t even cover it,” Paladino said. “There’s no jobs. Everybody’s getting things for free.”

In February, the city’s unemployment rate was 5.4 percent. Statewide it was 4.2 percent and nationwide 3.6. Economists broadly consider between 3 and 5 percent to be strong.

Ocasio-Cortez reiterated her previous point. “When it comes to jobs, we do know that those jobs are there — we’ve worked with industry professionals ... they have confirmed that those jobs are there,” she said. “What they’re asking is that we help cut the red tape so that they can engage in some of this hiring.”

Soon after, Paladino asked whether the congresswomen had said migrants would be “up first” for jobs in the hotel industry. Ocasio-Cortez replied, “I don’t think they have like a waiting list that they’re maintaining, but they’re saying that they have these vacancies, that they’ve been trying to fill them and that they have not been able to.”

She added that the city is aiming to get a significant chunk of the $8 billion allocated for FEMA nationwide; one figure that has been floated, she said, is $4 billion.

Paladino was less than convinced, saying, “We don’t see the money.”

“We’re going broke, and our citizens here who are hurting really, really, really badly are getting stepped over in order to accommodate the immigration problem,” she said, pointing to crime, among other things. “Native New Yorkers are not being cared for the way they should be cared for because of what’s been coming over the border.”

Later, she added, “It’s time to close that damn border.”