A 95-year-old veteran of the Korean War says he received less than two months’ notice that he had to move out of a nursing home in New York City after the city struck a deal to house illegal aliens there.
“I thought my suitcases were going to be on the curb, because I’m not that fast,” Army veteran Frank Tammaro told reporters at a press conference. “If it wasn’t for my daughter, they would’ve been on the curb.”
For months, New York City has experienced a surge of illegal immigrants, with more than 101,200 asylum-seekers arriving in the little over a year between April 2022 and Aug. 13, 2023, city officials said in a press release. More than 58,000 migrants remain in the city’s shelter system.
Tammaro joined Rep. Nicole Malliotakis, R-N.Y., for a Staten Island press conference Monday to discuss New York City’s deal with Homes for the Homeless to take over the nursing home, called Island Shores Senior Residences.
“The thing I’m annoyed about is how they did it; it was very disgraceful what they did to the people in Island Shores,” Tammaro told reporters, according to video and a press release from Malliotakis’ office.
“I said, ‘No, no, no, no, you’re not moving me,’ and they said, ‘Yes, yes, yes, we are,’” he recalled. “Everything was done behind closed doors—we didn’t have a chance to actually make any attempt to stop them, because there wasn’t enough time.”
Tammaro served as a corporal with the Army Signal Corps in both California and Georgia during the Korean War.
Malliotakis decried what had occurred to him and other residents of Island Shores.
“Our tax dollars as citizens of New York should not be utilized to house citizens of other countries, especially at the expense of our senior citizens and veterans,” the New York Republican said.
New York City is seeing an increase in illegal immigrants not only because of its “sanctuary city” status, but because the Republican governors of Texas, Arizona, and Florida have sent busloads of illegal aliens to big, Democrat-run cities in protest of Biden administration border policies allowing hundreds of thousands of migrants to enter the United States.
After hearing that Homes for the Homeless was attempting to sell Island Shores, Malliotakis and New York City Council member David Carr say, they wanted to see if they could find a “suitable buyer” to maintain the assisted-living facility.
But Carr, a Republican who represents Staten Island, said Homes for the Homeless “refused to have even an exploratory conversation,” citing the real estate market.
“Clearly someone at Homes for the Homeless saw an opportunity” in the contract with the city government to house illegal immigrants, the City Council member said, according to Malliotakis’ press release.
The Daily Signal has sought comment from Homes for the Homeless and will update this report if the organization responds.
At least seven other military veterans had to leave Island Shores because it is being used to house up to 300 illegal aliens, according to the congresswoman’s office.
Almost 200 sites across New York City now house illegal immigrants, CNN reported, including hotels and office buildings. Until neighbors protested and reversed the decision, one site was a former Catholic school.
“Over three fiscal years, the city has the potential to spend upwards of $12 billion on this crisis if circumstances do not change,” New York City Mayor Eric Adams said last month in a citywide address.
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