Border bill takes center stage in high-stakes N.Y. special election to replace George Santos

The Senate border bill and illegal immigration are now the focus of the New York special election to replace disgraced former Rep. George Santos.

With early voting underway since Saturday in the Long Island election that wraps up on Feb. 13, the two candidates are sparring over the $118 billion border bill and the illegal immigration issue that is a top concern for voters.

Republican Mazi Pilip is blasting her Democratic opponent, Rep. Tom Suozzi who previously represented the district before giving up the seat two years ago for a failed gubernatorial run.

“Suozzi supports the proposed Senate border deal, which basically legalizes the invasion of our country at the southern border and allows 1.5 million additional migrants to enter the nation each year,” Ms. Pilip, a member of the Nassau County Legislature, posted on X. “Is anyone surprised? After all, Suozzi voted 100% of the time with Joe Biden.”

During a press call on Zoom, Mr. Suozzi called the Senate bill a “comprehensive bipartisan solution” to the migrant crisis that has spread from the southern border to New York and other Democratic-run cities and states.

More than 2.4 million illegal immigrants crossed the border in 2023, and New York City found itself swarmed with 170,000 migrants.

Mr. Suozzi said the bill demonstrates the “stark contrast” between him and his opponent in the 3rd Congressional District, which covers most of Nassau County and some of northeastern Queens.

Ms. Pilip, he said, is doing the bidding of “extremists in her party who are following former President Trump, who said, ‘I don’t want to make a deal because I don’t want to give Biden a victory.’”

The back and forth on the campaign trail echoed the debate in Washington, where supporters of the border deal are scrambling to shore up support in the Democratic-run Senate and the effort has been declared dead on arrival in the GOP-run House.

The bill would provide almost $20 billion to manage illegal immigration at the southern border.

The special election is an early test of where voters are in 2024. The contest also carries extra political weight because of the Republican’s paper-thin majority — just two seats.

The migrant crisis in New York was largely due to Texas Gov. Greg Abbott, a Republican, sending busloads of migrants to self-declared sanctuary cities run by Democrats to share the turmoil imposed on border states.

The migrant crisis has made national headlines in New York, where a group of migrants was freed from jail after attacking two police officers in Times Square, a brutal attack caught on video. The incident prompted Gov. Kathy Hochul, a Democrat, to reverse her support for sanctuary city policies and call for speedy deportations of migrant criminals.

In another recent incident caught on video, a migrant on a moped dragged a 62-year-old woman down a Brooklyn street. It is part of a crime spree by a migrant moped gang that is terrorizing the city, according to police.

Republicans believe the chaos, which was fueled by Democratic policies, and the Senate bill, which they say is an attempt to paper over the self-inflicted crisis, is driving voters to the GOP.

The Pilip campaign, in coordination with the House Republicans’ campaign committee, launched a new ad Tuesday that linked Mr. Suozzi to Mr. Biden’s immigration policies, an area where the president suffers low approval ratings. The ad features video footage of the migrants attacking the two police officers in Times Square.