Stansbury Slams House GOP: ‘There’s Been A Lot Of Strange Misinformation Provided Here Today’
On Thursday, Rep. Melanie Stansbury (D-NM) questioned witnesses on land management jurisdiction during a House Natural Resources Committee hearing.
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NewsTranscript
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...