Buffalo, N.Y. (WBEN) - Thursday night saw the arrival of 50 migrants to Erie County after they were bused to the region from New York City earlier in the afternoon hours.
It is speculated this may be the first wave of migrants to make their way to Western New York from Downstate, as Erie County has made itself an open community for individuals seeking asylum to travel to and be housed with the assistance of local resettlement agencies.
Related
As reaction comes from several lawmakers at the local and state level, Congressman Brian Higgins (D-NY-26) feels this situation with migrants coming to Erie County is being managed, and managed properly.
"We have resettlement agencies - Jericho Road, Catholic Charities, International Institute, Jewish Family Services - who have been doing resettlement work for over 100 years," said Higgins during a visit to Buffalo on Friday. "97% of Americans are immigrants. This is not a crisis, as some have tried to characterize it. This is a challenge that has to be managed. It's being managed very, very well with good communication from New York to Buffalo.
"The mayor of New York, his office was in contact with officials in Buffalo and Western New York. This is being coordinated very, very smoothly, and we in Washington have an obligation to allow these people to go to work as quickly as possible. They want to work, we need the work."
LISTEN LIVE TO WBEN:
Meanwhile, Congressman Nick Langworthy (R-NY-23) feels the current border crisis at the hands of President Joe Biden has arrived in human form in Western New York.
"This is something we've known would happen," said Langworthy. "We have seen the traffic of fentanyl that's gone over this open border, and now since Title 42 ended, we had a huge influx of people. New York City is overrun. Now, this is New York City's problem, because they decided they'd be a sanctuary city. They're responsible for paying the bill here, but they're looking for lower cost alternatives on where to house and care for these individuals that have come here against the laws of this country."
Langworthy feels these are the consequences of a broken, unsecure border, and a broken immigration system in the country. He adds with the massive influx of migrants coming into the country, it's becoming more-and-more difficult to find a place to put them.
However, Higgins believes issues with immigration and a lack of reform have become problems Congress created. He says Immigration is one issue it hasn't touched because of a "lack of guts". Higgins feels those in Washington have an obligation to make sure organizations like Jericho Road, Catholic Charities, International Institute of Buffalo, and Jewish Family Services are properly staffed and have the necessary resources to help migrants resettle into the community.
"Keep in mind, these people are not violent, they're fleeing violence. You look at Venezuela, you look at the countries of Central America, that's why these people want to come to a country like the United States," Higgins said. "It's been, I think, organized in a very methodical and non-judgmental way, and that's the best we can hope for. But let's be thankful that we have organizations that have been doing this for decades, and in many cases, over 100 years, them and their predecessors. They know how to do it, they have expertise, they know the needs of this community."
When it comes to acting on immigration in Congress, Higgins says there needs to be bipartisan agreement. If immigration reform is to happen, it needs to finally be able to get through all the necessary avenues of federal government before it becomes a law. However, it's about finding a way to make something work over a divided government.
"What Congress has done, they have failed in the responsibility to do comprehensive immigration reform, and they are now weaponizing the issue against each other. That doesn't help anybody. It doesn't help the 60 or so asylum seekers, migrants that are coming to Buffalo and Western New York," Higgins explained. "The goal would be to grow up, and give this issue the attention, the legislative Congressional attention that it needs."
As for Langworthy, he feels immigration cannot be properly addressed until the Southern border is secured
"The whole purpose President [Donald] Trump came forward and supported a wall at the Southern border [was] so we could secure that border once and for all. We got part of the way done, and then the Biden administration has unraveled the whole thing," Langworthy said. "The House Republicans have passed a border bill that would help secure our border, give our border patrol agents the tools they need to help secure our border, and finish the wall. The problem we have is security at the Southern border. How can we have an immigration policy if we're not even counting the people that come in illegally?
"We have had over a million people that have just gotten away since Joe Biden became President. We don't know who they are, where they've come from. Almost 200 have come from the terrorist watchlist, and this is not just about Mexico or Latin America. There are people coming from all over the world because they know we don't enforce our Southern border."
When does Langworthy believe there could be any chance of formulating a bipartisan agreement to reform immigration in the United States? He says it would have to manifest itself in the next Presidential election.
"We have to keep our country safe. If you don't have borders, you don't have a country. We're dangerously close to that right now, because we have let so many people into the country illegally," Langworthy stated. "We don't know what their intentions are, why they're coming, or what they intend to do. And we have a huge crisis of drugs and fentanyl that the Chinese build and produce at cheap levels, send it to the cartels, and they are killing our citizens with it. Until we can get the Southern border secure, we cannot deal with immigration."
There are other issues in Washington Langworthy would like to get sorted out and finalized, but again, says cannot be done until the Southern border is secure.
"I want to get H-2A Visas done for our farmers and our dairy farmers, so we can have a more stable and predictable workforce for jobs that we just can't seem to fill with Americans. That would be great, but we can't tackle that until we get security at our Southern border," he said. "This President is completely derelict in his duties, and the Secretary of Homeland Security needs to be impeached for dereliction of duty."
While there is a want for bipartisan leadership in Congress to negotiate an immigration reform bill that can pass, Higgins knows there's no sense in introducing anything, at this time, when a bill is likely going to sit with further no action. He says action is needed to establish priorities surrounding immigration, and also sorting what resources are going to be dedicated to those priorities.
"You're going to see all kinds of bills, they are out there now, they say different things. People sometimes introduce legislation just to kind of cover themselves, but since Congress has not taken decisive action, meaning the House and the Senate working together, we have 27 years of nothing, and we're stuck with the situation that people are exploiting," Higgins said.
Higgins says he will take the time to look at legislation that has been introduced and see where opportunities can be found for the Senate and House to come together toward the goal of approving a bill that passes in both houses, and would then be signed by the President.
"The United States has a great tradition. Yeah, there are challenges, and Congress could certainly be much more helpful than Congress has been in almost three decades," he said. "That said, the immigrant experience - go back to the Italians, the Polish, the Irish - has been a net positive for this community and this country."
Related
