House passes bill barring the use of US public schools as migrant shelters

The House on Wednesday voted in favor of barring the use of public schools and colleges that receive federal funds as shelters for migrants. 

The Schools Not Shelters Act passed the lower chamber in a 222-201 vote, with four Democrats joining all Republicans to vote in support of the legislation.

The measure comes as New York City Mayor Eric Adams mulls whether to utilize public schools shuttered for the summer to temporarily house thousands of migrants. 

The legislation was sponsored by Rep. Marc Molinaro (R-NY), and co-sponsored by fellow New York Republican Reps. Anthony D’Esposito, Mike Lawler, Nick Langworthy, Brandon Williams, Erin Houchin and Nicole Malliotakis.

“There are more illegal immigrants being housed in NYC than homeless New Yorkers,” Malliotakis wrote on Twitter Tuesday.

“Mayor Adams keeps proposing using schools meant for learning as shelters! I’m calling on my colleagues to vote YES on H.R. 3941 tomorrow & STOP [Adams]  from housing migrants in our schools!”

In a speech from the House floor, the 11th Congressional District rep argued that school facilities should be preserved for children to use and not be taken away from them.

“Children should be learning [in school]. They lost two years of socialization, physical fitness and interactions – thanks to COVID,” Malliotakis said.

“And now [Adams] wants to take away the school gym. To anyone who says this is a manufactured crisis, look at New York City, because it is happening there,”

She added that President Biden and Adams are responsible for the migrant crisis. 

Biden for failing to secure the border and Adams for his decision to “misinterpret” New York’s right to shelter law to house undocumented migrants instead of citizens.

Malliotakis argued that immigration courts have determined in two-thirds of cases that migrants are not granted asylum and therefore are “here illegally.”

In May, Adams said that as many as 20 city public school gyms could be converted to hold migrants as principals began warning parents about the possibility. 

The city’s Office of Emergency Management has also compiled a list of 20-30 school buildings that could be used as temporary shelters to handle the waves of migrants that continue to flow into New York. 

“As Mayor Adams has said repeatedly, we have more than 51,800 asylum-seekers in our care and have reached capacity,” a mayoral spokesperson said earlier this month.

“While this option is not ideal, none are, and we are in no position to take anything off the table.”

Molinaro represents the battleground 19th Congressional District – which includes Broome, Chenango, Columbia, Cortland, Delaware, Greene, Sullivan, Tioga and Tompkins counties as well as part of Otsego County and Ulster County – and the city’s decision to bus migrants to his turf is very unpopular. 

“It’s just not acceptable. It’s a failure to plan by the president, the governor and the mayor,” Molinaro said Wednesday.

He added that schools are struggling post-pandemic and don’t need any additional distractions or burdens.

Molinaro rapped Adams for busing migrants upstate but also noted that the mayor requested help from the 80-year-old president which “fell on deaf ears.”

“The president ignored him,” said Molinaro.

The White House strongly opposes Molinaro’s bill, which is not expected to come up for a vote anytime soon in the Senate as it doesn’t have a sponsor in the upper chamber. 

In a statement of administration policy, the White House argued that the Schools Not Shelters Act  “would supersede local control, interfering with the ability of States and municipalities to effectively govern and make decisions about their school buildings.”