WASHINGTON — U.S. Rep. Marc Molinaro on Monday urged elected officials including President Biden to “stop trying to score points” and stand up to the immigration crisis and other challenges facing New York and the rest of the nation.
In his first virtual news conference since announcing his run for reelection, Molinaro, R-19, faulted soaring taxes for the exodus of New Yorkers to other states, called the state’s cashless bail system “a disaster,” accused the Biden administration and Gov. Kathy Hochul of creating a humanitarian crisis by inadequately enforcing immigration laws and called on cities need to abandon the sanctuary designation.
He also slammed Democrat Josh Riley, his presumptive challenger in November, saying Riley, an Ithaca attorney, is out of touch with the realities of living in the Hudson Valley.
“It’s likely to be a rematch, but my feeling is that we don’t need another corporate lawyer in Washington, living in a big Washington townhouse, defending Big Oil, Big Pharma and big business,” Molinaro said. “I call the 19th District home; my opponent calls Washington, D.C., home”
But most of the news conference focused on immigration, which has pulled the attention of elected officials away from other serious issues such as crime, public safety, crushing tax burden and mental health, Molinaro said.
“County leaders in my district have made it clear they don’t have the resources to manage large numbers of asylum seekers, yet Eric Adams, the mayor of New York City has shown no concern for the homeless crisis in these communities or veterans living with mental health issues,” Molinaro said.
Molinaro wants the Senate to approve the Border Security Act, which has been passed in the House. The legislation aims at reducing the migrant influx by 70%, expanding the vetting process and banning cities from transporting migrants to small communities.
Upstate New York has every right to see this bill passed, or else they will have individuals being transported to their counties that don’t have the capacity to handle a big influx of migrants, Molinaro said.
“Every Democratic president including Bill Clinton has enforced our immigration laws, but President Biden has the law already on his side, and he hasn’t done it. The president should have declared a state of emergency from the start and the cities should have abandoned the title of sanctuary — which they just started calling themselves without approval from anyone,” Molinaro said. “It’s a total collapse of the system. We’ve turned over control of the border to the drug cartels.”
Human trafficking and the flow of the dangerous synthetic opiate fentanyl into the United States are the byproducts of this loss of control, Molinaro added.
Molinaro said he is among the leading representatives in the House when it comes to getting bipartisan legislation passed, putting the number of bills at more than 30.
“I’m willing to work with anybody at any time on either side of the aisle who’s earnestly and honestly committed to getting things done,” Molinaro said. “But I won’t work with anyone who is more interested in making problems than solving problems.”