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As the New York Post reported this week, “Local GOP state Assemblyman Michael Tannousis told The Post the area was ‘blindsided’ by the new shelter, leading to stronger opposition. ‘I found out about this location when it was already out in the newspaper,’ he said, adding the city previously denied to him they were going to house migrants there.”

https://mises.org/wire/let-staten-island-secede

Ryan McMaken

Homeless foreign nationals (i.e., “illegal aliens”) began arriving last week at a makeshift shelter in a Staten Island neighborhood. The arrivals come after New York City Mayor Eric Adams decided that a shuttered Catholic school on Staten Island would be used to house some of the more than 100,000 migrants who have arrived in New York City since the spring of 2022. 

Staten Islanders, however, were given no veto and no role in determining the location of the shelter or what policies might be implemented there. As a result, hundreds of protestors this week assembled to express their opposition to the plan which was apparently hatched in secret and only revealed to Staten Island residents when the plan was already fait accompli. As the New York Post reported this week, “Local GOP state Assemblyman Michael Tannousis told The Post the area was ‘blindsided’ by the new shelter, leading to stronger opposition. ‘I found out about this location when it was already out in the newspaper,’ he said, adding the city previously denied to him they were going to house migrants there.”

It’s easy to see why the policymakers who run New York City haven’t bothered to ask neighborhood representatives if they want a migrant shelter in their neighborhood. The residents of Staten Island, who tend to lean more politically conservative than other in other regions of the city, are easily outnumbered by hardline social-democrat residents of Manhattan, Brooklyn, and other boroughs. When it comes to city-wide politics, in other words, Staten Islanders don’t matter, so the city government in Manhattan does what it wants with Staten Island’s resources, and to Staten Island’s residents.

How one feels about migrants, however, is irrelevant in answering the question of whether or not the half-million residents of Staten Island ought to be allowed self-determination in matters that clearly and deeply affect matters in their own neighborhoods and businesses. The New York Post reports:

Staten Islanders are renewing calls for a breakaway from the Big Apple — with Mayor Eric Adams’ controversial call to bus migrants to a local shuttered Catholic school proving to be the latest breaking point.

One local pol even has an idea for the independent borough’s new slogan: “Nonsicut tu quoque,” City Councilman Joe Borelli told The Post.

It roughly translates to, “We don’t like you either.”

Staten Island has always been an odd fit within the five boroughs, sitting on the outskirts of New York City with a predominantly conservative Republican population that butts heads with the rest of the city. 

Unfortunately, the borough faces many uphill challenges in seceding. Both the NYC City Council and the state legislature would need to approve the move. 

The Post continues: 

See the rest here

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