(LibertySons.org) – New York City (NYC) Mayor Eric Adams (D) proposed housing some undocumented immigrants flooding into the Big Apple in public school gymnasiums in May as the city faced an indigent housing crisis. The suggestion outraged parents and conservative lawmakers. As a result, Republican lawmakers in the US House recently pushed through a measure to ban the use of schools as immigrant shelters.
Soon after Adams suggested the move, Rep Marc Molinaro (R-NY) drafted his first version of the Schools Not Shelters Act. He refined the language and submitted the revised version. It passed in the House Education and the Workforce Committee on June 13. The full House debated and voted on the measure on July 18, passing it along mostly partisan lines with a vote of 222 to 201. Four moderate Democrats, including Rep. Patrick Ryan (D-NY), also supported the bill.
The measure prohibits using facilities in public elementary schools, secondary schools, or institutions of higher learning to shelter or house aliens who the US has not legally admitted into the country according to the Immigration and Nationality Act. It allows for short-term (less than 72 hours) exceptions for state or federally-declared disasters.
Schools that violate the ban would risk losing federal funding for all programs. The measure would apply to schools throughout the US, including Washington, DC, and territories like Puerto Rico, Guam, the US Virgin Islands, the Northern Marianas Islands, and American Samoa.
During debate on the House floor before the vote, co-sponsor Nicole Malliotakis (R-NY) said the city housed more illegal immigrants in homeless shelters than indigent American citizens because of Mayor Adams’ interpretation of NYC’s housing laws. She talked about walking the Big Apple’s streets and seeing people with drug and mental health problems sleeping on sidewalks because the mayor chose to help undocumented aliens rather than American citizens.
The bill moved to the Senate for review. However, President Joe Biden condemned the measure in a statement partly because it supersedes local and state control of resources.
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