Former Democratic National Committee chairman and current White House senior adviser Tom Perez took an “integral role” in settling thousands of migrants at Brooklyn’s Floyd Bennett Field, according to House Republicans investigating the Biden administration’s handling of the border crisis.
In a letter exclusively obtained by The Post, House Natural Resources Committee Chairman Bruce Westerman (R-Ark.) said Perez, who also heads up the White House Office of Intergovernmental Affairs, had been “coordinating the federal response to the migrant crisis” in the Big Apple for nearly a year — which included dropping roughly 2,000 migrants on the shore of Jamaica Bay.
“The Committee is deeply concerned with the Biden administration’s management of America’s public lands, and the unprecedent[ed] decision to use national park land for a migrant encampment,” wrote Westerman.
Natural Resources Subcommittee on Oversight and Investigations Chairman Paul Gosar (R-Ariz.) and seven New York Republicans also signed onto the letter.
Among the signatories were House GOP Conference Chairwoman Elise Stefanik; Staten Island Rep. Nicole Malliotakis; Long Island lawmakers Anthony D’Esposito, Nick LaLota, Andrew Garbarino, and Nick Langworthy; and Upstate Rep. Claudia Tenney.
Perez traveled to New York to meet with Gov. Kathy Hochul and also spoke with NYC Mayor Eric Adams in Washington before the Biden administration made what Westerman called the “unprecedented decision” in August 2023 to lease the National Park Service (NPS) land for the migrant encampment.
Hochul admitted to Gothamist that same month that Empire State officials’ lobbying efforts had gotten the NPS and Interior Department to change federal rules in order to allow the encampment to be built.
“The answer one month ago was ‘no’ — that this is land owned by the Department of Interior, National Parks, and they do not allow for use of shelter on any of their properties,” she told the outlet. “So I’m viewing this as a significant development by the administration in Washington to acknowledge that we need more help here.”
The Republicans said in their letter that “the migrant crisis in New York City has continued unabated” since then — and have asked Perez to hand over records related to the Floyd Bennett Field encampment and the “legality of housing migrants on Federal land” by May 3.
A spokesman for Adams said in November that the mayor’s team remains in “regular contact” with Perez on issues related to migrants who are seeking asylum in the city — communications which the committee members have also requested.
In January, Hochul’s administration also welcomed Perez into the Empire State Development agency’s VIP suite at Highmark Stadium for the Buffalo Bills AFC playoff game against the Kansas City Chiefs, The Post exclusively reported.
Last month, committee members warned in a letter to NPS of “the inherent safety risks to employees at the park, residents of the surrounding communities, and migrants” due to a concerning “uptick in crime” stemming from the Floyd Bennett Field encampment.
Those have included reports of panhandling scams, shoplifting, assault and domestic violence both inside of the park and in its surrounding areas.
City Hall hired a private security firm to oversee the encampment, which has “impeded” NYPD officers from responding to incidents on at least one occasion, the lawmakers also said.
Adams’ administration has taken in more than 65,000 migrants into New York City and is spending $387 per migrant household per day to feed and shelter them.
That could cost the city budget as much as $10 billion through the next fiscal year.
