Staten Island politicians demand a ‘halt’ to plans to use Fort Wadsworth as migrant shelter site
The audacity! Staten Island elected officials are making it known to City Hall and the Biden administration to halt plans to use Fort Wadsworth as a possible migrant shelter site, charging that doing so would violate federal protections of national historic landmarks.
“We write to you with great concern and deep disappointment regarding the recent proposal to repurpose Fort Wadsworth, a historic site on Staten Island, as a migrant shelter,” wrote a bipartisan group of borough electeds Monday led by Republican Rep. Nicole Malliotakis in a letter addressed to Department of Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas, Secretary of the Interior Deborah Haaland, Gov. Kathy Hochul and Mayor Eric Adams.
DHS officials sent by Mayorkas secretly toured the facility on Thursday, Aug. 10, along with reps from City Hall and Hochul’s office to decide whether or not the grounds would be suitable to house homeless migrants, The Post exclusively reported.
Sources said it’s still unclear where an emergency shelter would be erected on the 226-acre grounds, but Adams has been desperate for the feds to approve new sites to house migrants as the city is running out of housing.
But the borough officials argued the fort is a poor choice as it’s already heavily trafficked by visitors and school groups. It’s a Revolutionary War landmark and also serves as a base of operations for both the U.S. Coast Guard and U.S. Park Police. Plus, servicemembers in the U.S. Coast Guard live on the site and the US Army Reserves hold training there.
“The audacity to even consider transforming such a culturally significant and operationally strategic National Historic Landmark into a migrant shelter is an affront to servicemembers and local residents,” continued the ten signers, which included Republican Borough President Vito Fossella, Councilmen Joe Borelli and David Carr, state Sen. Andrew Lanza, Assemblymen Michael Reilly, Michael Tannousis and Sam Pirozzolo, as well as Democratic pols state Sen. Jessica Scarcella-Spanton and City Councilwoman Kamillah Hanks.
They cited federal regulations which require the government “to minimize harm to any National Historic Landmark that may be directly and adversely affected by an undertaking.”
“Sheltering hundreds of families among these historic structures is in direct conflict to that obligation, as any damage that results from this plan would likely be irreparable,” the group said.
“We demand that you halt any plans to use Fort Wadsworth as a migrant shelter and instead respect our history, our veterans and servicemembers,” they added.
Meanwhile, Hochul partook in an internal call with City Hall and Biden administration officials Sunday morning, discussing using not only Fort Wadsworth but also Floyd Bennett airfield in Brooklyn as possible migrant sites.
Expecting to get the green light, Hochul was instead shut down by Team Biden, who argued that there’s still “operational and legal” hurdles to take care of before signing off on the plan.
The National Park Service runs both locations, so discussions are ongoing as to whether or not the federal government would contribute staff or pay for operations onsite.
Since early 2022, the Big Apple has received more than 100,000 new arrivals and is now paying for the shelter, food and other services associated with roughly 57,000 migrants living in around 200 taxpayer-funded hotels.
Adams begged Biden repeatedly over the last year, declaring last week that the city was “past its breaking point” and needs not only federal funding, but stricter border policies.
His budget officials estimate the crisis could cost a high of $12 billion over the next three years.
Biden finally sent top aide and longtime Democratic ally Tom Perez to City Hall on Thursday for a closed-door meeting discussing the future of the crisis with Adams and, separately, the governor and her team.
Neither DHS, DOI, Hochul nor City Hall responded to an immediate request for comment on the letter.