ATLANTIC CITY, N.J. (KYW Newsradio) — Immigrant rights groups are speaking out against elected leaders who say they don’t want migrants housed at the Atlantic City airport.
The Biden administration is looking to relocate migrants in New York City to federally-owned sites and Bloomberg reports Atlantic City International Airport is on a short list of destinations. But some elected officials have said the airport doesn’t have the resources to house the migrants and that doing so could cause security problems.
That excuse doesn’t sit well with Cristian Moreno-Rodriguez, of Community United of Atlantic City. He says civil political debates are one thing, but adds the conversation has become cruel.
“We’re not willing to stand by and let this type of rhetoric go unaccounted for,” he declared. “When you dehumanize the conversation, you really forget about the people that are affected by this rhetoric, by this language.”
He says local officials should be doing all they can to help. “For us,” he said, “it almost felt like they were comparing the migrant community or the migrants possibly coming to Atlantic City to garbage.”
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Moreno-Rodiguez says Democrats in particular should be ashamed of their anti-immigrant position. “They have no problem asking for support or our vote come election season, but they do seem to have a problem with giving us the respect or dignity that we deserve,” he said.
Gov. Phil Murphy has said the recommended sites in New Jersey, including the Atlantic City Airport, are not equipped to handle that many migrants. State Sen. Vince Polistina has pointed out the airport is also a military base, and cautioned against having unvetted individuals in high-security areas.
There’s no official word on when migrants will be relocated from New York.