Stansbury Slams House GOP: ‘There’s Been A Lot Of Strange Misinformation Provided Here Today’

5 months ago

On Thursday, Rep. Melanie Stansbury (D-NM) questioned witnesses on land management jurisdiction during a House Natural Resources Committee hearing.

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Transcript

00:00Natural Resources Committee. This is not a City Council meeting for New York City.

00:04This is not a State Assembly hearing in the New York State Assembly. And this is

00:10also not a committee that has jurisdiction over immigration or

00:14international affairs. We're here because we have stewardship over our lands,

00:18waters, and wildlife. And there's been a lot of strange misinformation provided

00:25here today. But one thing that I do think is helpful for the public to know

00:30is that part of the role and responsibility of members of Congress is

00:34to serve their communities, to do casework. And we had three members of

00:38New York's delegation here today. Please follow up with your members of Congress.

00:43They can help facilitate conversations with our federal agencies. That's our job.

00:47That's actually why we're here. So we don't need to have fake hearings that

00:53are about political issues. It's really about just facilitating those kind of

00:58conversations. I do want to correct the record on a few things and then I'll

01:02turn it over for a quick question. First of all, there was a comment made about

01:06veterans. We've had the largest expansion of veterans benefits ever in American

01:11history in the last Congress with the passing of the PACT Act and the

01:16eligibility of three million more veterans to qualify for that. There's

01:21been a lot of misinformation about how immigration and asylum works. Most of

01:26the people who are currently being housed in various places by the places

01:31where they're being received are actually have already been screened at

01:34the border. In fact, that is our policy. And they have been screened to be safe.

01:39Of course, there's always violence that occurs in our communities. But they also

01:46are awaiting asylum hearings in the asylum system. And if our friends across

01:51the aisle would like to fix the immigration system, fund our programs and

01:56pass bipartisan immigration reform and work on these issues. Don't hold

02:01political hearings, but actually get to work on the issues that the American

02:05people care about and that are impacting so clearly our communities. But Assembly

02:10woman, I really appreciated some of the comments you made earlier about humane

02:14solutions and about collaboration. And I understand very much like the challenge

02:22of working with the federal bureaucracy. All of our communities struggle with it.

02:25And certainly we're committed to helping support work out issues and work out

02:30issues so that there is better coordination. But we don't have

02:34jurisdiction over the state or the city here. And so, but because we are here

02:41talking about immigration, about what to do with the populations who are here in

02:48our communities, I want to start with Ms. Fisher and then I'd love to ask Ms.

02:52Williams as well. You know, what do you see as being some of the ways in

02:57which we can fix the existing systems to help get people through the asylum

03:03system faster, to more humanely house people, to make sure that families are

03:09safe in the spaces where they are living in the interim, and to make sure that our

03:14communities have a say in the process. So I'll start with Ms. Fisher and then

03:18turn to Ms. Williams. Thank you so much for that question. And I think that

03:23answer actually here starts with federal coordination. It's really not feasible

03:27for just one or two cities to, like New York and Chicago, to receive such high

03:32numbers of new arrivals. With federal coordination, we can ensure that new

03:37arrivals that do not already have ties to the United States have the

03:40opportunity to go places that are facing labor shortages, population decline, and

03:45can benefit from a boost of new workers. People also need the ability to work.

03:52Asylum seekers are only able to receive work permits once their asylum

03:55applications have been pending for six months. That needs to be sped up. If we

04:01take the example of Carla, who I spoke about in my opening statement, it took

04:06her months of doing, you know, the hair and nails of people in her shelter to

04:11save up the thousands of dollars she needed to pay for an immigration

04:15attorney, to then file for asylum, and then start the clock to wait the six

04:20months for her work permit, which obviously delayed their ability to move

04:25out of shelters and into independence. And again, what we need is a system that

04:31provides people the ability to come here safely in a dignified manner and

04:37support services to help them navigate their cases in immigration court. These

04:43solutions have not only proven to be more effective at helping people comply

04:49with their immigration requirements, they also will save taxpayers dollars and

04:54bolster local economies.

04:57Ms. Williams, again, the question, excuse me, Assembly Williams, excuse me, again, the

05:05question is really, for individuals that are already here and that do need

05:09housing, how can there be better collaboration and support for the

05:14communities that are hosting these folks and helping to make sure that they're

05:19safe and humane environments for folks to, you know, start their next chapter?

05:23Thank you. There definitely has to be a dialogue with all the electeds at the

05:28table. You know, that's a start in the right direction for a better solution,

05:34number one, which that opportunity was not given to us nine months ago. So

05:39moving forward, and the best thing we can do for those families that Floyd Bennett

05:44feel is not to renew the lease and, you know, try to do something better, whether

05:49it's open up the rest of the state, have them vetted much quicker, because we know

05:54for sure that not everyone who is seeking asylum is going to be granted

05:59that status. And I just want to piggyback a little bit when we talk about vetting

06:04process and it's done at the border. Well, I really wondered what happened with the

06:08eight individuals that was arrested, you know, didn't they go

06:13through that vetting process too? Because for us in South Brooklyn, we do

06:18have a shopping mall that thousands and thousands of people visit every

06:25day, and God forbid something, you know, crazy had happened, how that could have

06:30been a place of, you know, of an attack or something. So we have to do better, but

06:37everyone has to be at the table. It can be a one-way conversation and then the

06:43local electives is left in the dark to answer to their constituents, because

06:49most times the local electives have more interaction with their local

06:54constituency. Thank you. Thank you, Madam Assemblywoman, and it's unfortunate that

07:00your members of Congress left before they could hear that. So thank you, Mr.

07:04Chairman. You're certainly welcome. First of all, I want to address the

07:07jurisdictional issue. This is the Oversight Committee of Natural Resources.

07:11That means everything is on...

Stansbury Slams House GOP: ‘There’s Been A Lot Of Strange Misinformation Provided Here Today’

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