Located to the northwest of Albany, New York, the small town of Glennville just received some unexpected and unpleasant news. The Biden administration recently added eight new proposed sites to a list of places where migrants from New York City may be housed, with two of them being on military properties near Glennville. One of the sites is the Navy Operational Support Center and the other is a federal building located at the Schenectady County Airport. Both facilities are in fenced-off areas with armed guards. Adding insult to injury, the White House sent the lists to the Governor’s office and the Mayor of New York City but did not bother to inform the local and county governments where the migrants would reportedly be sent. Glenville is a town of less than 30,000 people. But they’re now going to suddenly have hundreds of illegal migrants showing up and camping out there? (Times Union)
Two military sites at the airport in Glenville have made it to a list of proposed federal housing options for migrants from New York City.
Another military site, the U.S. Army Reserve Center in Niskayuna, is also on the list, along with eight federally owned sites including Stewart International Airport and the Army National Guard’s Camp Smith in the Hudson Valley. The list was first reported by Bloomberg News.
The federal government gave the list to New York City and state officials, rather than also giving it to the relevant local governments, Schenectady County Manager Rory Fluman said.
Neither the Navy Operational Support Center nor the federal building at the airport are hotels, bunkhouses, or any other form of housing. Just cramming them full of people hardly seems like any sort of solution, even if you believe that these migrants should be put up in a mostly rural area like this. Also, those facilities presumably already have a purpose they are serving. If not, we should have already gotten rid of them as part of the ongoing base closure and realignment efforts to save money.
These migrants would be coming up from New York City. Gotham is a self-proclaimed “sanctuary” city with a “right to shelter” law. Glenville has never made any such offer. And yet we are now seeing the federal government colluding with the state government and the Mayor of the Big Apple to foist the problem off on them.
The local paper was able to locate one town supervisor who is sympathetic to the migrants and wants them to be welcomed, but even he said that the facilities in question are inappropriate for occupation in this fashion. His major complaint, however, is that migrants have to wait too long to get work permits. If they’re going to be living there, he believes they should be working legally. But if he’s so concerned about ensuring they comply with labor laws, where is his complaint about them violating our immigration laws?
Even if the migrants are settled into these buildings and given beds, they’re going to need food every day, not to mention medical care and sanitation services. Who will be providing all of that and who will be paying for it? That sounds like a lot more of a financial strain than should be sluffed off onto a village of that size.
This entire scheme is preposterous. Most of these people haven’t even been vetted. But you’re going to move them into a secure military facility? You’re going to give them what amount to unfettered access to an airport? Here’s an idea. If you’re shipping them to an airport anyway, what say you finish the job, load them on some planes, and send them back to their home countries? But no… I suppose that would make too much sense.
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