Rep. Malliotakis, Queens BP in war of words over NYC migrant shelters

STATEN ISLAND, N.Y. — Queens Borough President Donovan Richards thinks Staten Island is not doing its fair share in the city’s migrant crisis, and that isn’t sitting well with at least one local elected official.

Rep. Nicole Malliotakis (R-Staten Island/South Brooklyn) fired back at Richards this week after the New York Post quoted him asking “What About Staten Island?” in relation to the distribution of migrant shelters.

“It’s been a real challenge,” Richards told the tabloid. “Just because you have a loud voice and more wealth doesn’t mean you don’t do your fair share.”

Some of the city’s loudest voices speaking out against migrant shelters have come from Staten Island, including the voice of Malliotakis, but Queens has borne the brunt of the crisis that started in the spring of 2022.

Though Staten Island makes up about 6% of the city’s population, it has only taken in 1-2% of the about 65,000 people in city shelters while Queens, a borough with about 2.3 million people, has taken in far more.

Malliotakis said Tuesday that the reason Staten Island shouldn’t have to take in more migrants is because if borough leaders had their political way, the crisis wouldn’t be an issue in the first place.

National Republicans and Democrats have been in an unending back and forth blaming each other for the decades-old problem of the country’s immigration system.

Taking the position of her party, Malliotakis blamed the ongoing crisis on the policies of President Joseph Biden and Democrats more broadly, including Mayor Eric Adams.

She said because Staten Island went in favor of their opponents in the 2020 presidential and 2021 mayor elections, that borough residents shouldn’t be subject to the results of their actions.

“Staten Island does not support the policies that have come out of the Biden administration nor...Mayor Adams’ administration,” she said. “We’re tired of being subjected to their policies and that is why we fight back so fiercely as a community, both Republicans and Democrats.”

Throughout the ongoing crisis, bipartisan groups of varying elected officials have come out in opposition to the city’s placement of any city migrant shelter on Staten Island.

Several, including one set up at the former St. John’s Villa and another at the former Stapleton site of the Richard H. Hungerford School, have been shut down, but several more remain in operation.

Malliotakis and Richards have gotten into a back and forth on the social media platform X, formerly known as Twitter, trading various insults about their politics and Mallitoakis’ family’s own immigrant experience.

On Tuesday, Richards’ office sent over an emailed statement from the borough president doubling down on his call for Staten Island to do more.

“The World’s Borough isn’t just a nickname for Queens — it defines who we are as a borough of immigrants, where half our population was born abroad,” he said. “That’s why Queens will always embrace our newly arriving freedom seekers, but it is clear from the inequitable distribution of shelters throughout the city that the other four boroughs, especially Staten Island, can and must do more to help house our immigrant brothers and sister.”

While Richards might like to see the other boroughs do more, it’s unclear if they’ll have the opportunity. The migrant population in city shelters has effectively plateaued at 65,000, and city officials said Tuesday that they’re seeing fewer new arrivals.

Deputy Mayor Anne Williams-Isom said that for the first time she could recall in recent memory, the city saw fewer than 1,000 new arrivals to the five boroughs, but that the city’s focus needed to be on getting people already here established for themselves.

“The important thing is it’s under 1,000 on the intake and now we’ve really got to expedite the amount of people that exit so that we can see the census going down because that really is what we need to do in order to really save funds and to move people along,” she said.