Today, House Committee on Natural Resources Chairman Bruce Westerman (R-Ark.) led a letter to President Joe Biden, Vice President Kamala Harris and senior White House officials, requesting information about the White House’s involvement in the establishment of a migrant encampment on National Park Service (NPS) land at Floyd Bennett Field. In part, the members wrote:

"Over the past year, the Committee has conducted a lengthy investigation on the administration’s decision to lease FBF as a migrant camp, a decision spanning multiple federal agencies, all of which point directly back to the involvement of the White House as key in the decision.

“On April 19, 2024, the Committee sent a letter to Mr. Perez requesting information about the role he and the White House played in leasing FBF to the City of New York (NYC) and transforming FBF into a migrant camp. The response we received was objectionable at best as it attempted to paint the administration’s immigration policies in a positive light, eschew responsibility for the border crisis, and erroneously claim that the executive agencies of the administration have been fully cooperating with the Committee’s inquiry with responsive document productions. In reality, the Committee has fought tooth and nail to squeeze minimal information from the administration. Information the Committee’s investigation uncovered solidifies the integral role the White House played in turning FBF into a migrant tent city...

"Accordingly, it is clear that despite the White House’s refusal to acknowledge its role to the Committee, the Biden-Harris White House was instrumental in the transformation of FBF into a migrant camp."

Read the full letter here. 

Background

The Biden-Harris administration erected “temporary” migrant shelters at Floyd Bennett Field in early fall 2023 in the Gateway National Recreation Area in New York City (NYC). Westerman and other Republican members traveled to the site last September and saw firsthand how park access is being denied to NYC residents thanks to the migrant encampment. The committee has held multiple hearings to hold the Biden-Harris administration accountable and hear directly from impacted communities on the nature of this unprecedented lease agreement. 

The committee has also worked on legislative solutions like H.R. 5283, the Protecting our Communities from Failure to Secure the Border Act of 2023, which prohibits federal funding from being used to house illegal immigrants on any federal lands. The U.S. House of Representatives passed H.R. 5283 on Nov. 29, 2023.

The committee has launched a thorough investigation into the FBF lease, which involves requests for document productions, briefings and interviews from several federal agencies, including NPS, the Department of Homeland Security, the Council on Environmental Quality and White House officials. On Aug. 9, 2024, Chairman Westerman issued a subpoena to the U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) for documents related to the lease agreement.

This letter is the next step in the ongoing investigation, as this Saturday, Sept. 14, will mark the one-year anniversary of the lease agreement to use FBF as a migrant encampment. Republican members of Congress have strongly urged the Biden-Harris administration and the NPS to end this lease agreement.