Two Sides Tangle at Immigration Meeting

Impassioned pleas, politics and stories of how families of immigrants came to settle in Suffolk were the order of the day as speakers bantered back and forth during last week’s special meeting of the county legislature called to consider outside legal counsel to advise on the growing migrant crisis.

The session was highlighted by exchanges between Presiding Officer Kevin McCaffrey and Manuel Esteban, a fellow Republican of Cuban and Colombian descent who broke ranks to vote against the special counsel bill. He accused his colleagues of playing politics with the plight of the thousands of immigrants who New York City Mayor Eric Adams is looking to relocate to Suffolk and other communities.

“This is an election year and we have a problem with partisanship, red side, blue side, and everyone is caught in the middle. Veterans, asylum seekers, are all in the same meat grinder. Is it worth it to play this game?” Esteban asked. “It is not. I won’t cave into political pressure. I have to go home and face my wife and children. I won’t sell them out,” the father of seven said, adding, “This resolution is bulls%&t,” the last comment drawing a rebuke from McCaffrey.

“All we're asking today is to hire counsel to look at what the options the legislature has and I've been called every name under the book for doing what the county executive put out in emergency order that said, ‘stop, you can't come in’ and they're building a statue for him and no one is speaking disrespectfully to him calling him a segregationist as Legislator Esteban has suggested,” the presiding officer said.

Later, Esteban thanked McCaffrey for adding clauses he suggested to the bill which acknowledged America as a nation of immigrants and stated it was not his intention to offend anyone. “Racism is now very subtle,” he took the opportunity to say.

Legislator Jason Richburg told the story of a young woman who came with her family from England and lived in a cramped apartment for many years trying to live the American Dream. “She sounded different, she was not born here,” he related. “She was treated differently, she had to change the way she spoke; she was bullied and took a lot of hatred by her teachers and fellow students. She’s now a citizen, a wall street attorney who works with children to bridge the divide,” he continued. “That person is my wife,” Richberg said prior to casting a no vote on the special council resolution.

The resolution’s sponsor, Trish Bergin, told of her parents coming from Ireland, noting that she is the first generation of her family to be born here. “It took my parents three years to get here they had to go through criminal background checks to prove that they were not criminals,” she said. “They had to have physicals to make sure that they weren't sick and at the end of the day, my father came to America without my mother leaving her behind in a hospital because when she had her physical there was a shadow on her lung and they thought that she had tuberculosis; she had to sit in quarantine for six months. It was a long journey for them to get here and we all have stories similar to this,” she continued. “My job here is to protect the hard-working taxpayers of Suffolk County and their families and I intend to do so.”

Navy Veteran Matthew Simoni of Islip holds up a sign backing his point that the county should take care of its residents first before taking on the responsibility for illegal immigrants. File Photo

Al Mangiacapri told the story of his grandfather who came through Ellis Island from Italy a hundred years ago. “He was taken and examined for disease; he had to prove that he had a place to go, that he wouldn’t be a burden,” the Ronkonkoma resident said, explaining that a religious-based group took him in and helped him assimilate. “He went on to become a minister in Manhattan, a citizen. It was all done in an orderly fashion. He was not shipped to the streets to fend for himself. We need to help people become citizens, but this is just not the way to do it. This is a mess.”

“We have homeless people living on the street, veterans, children living in cars. Don’t the American people come first?” asked Nesconset resident Marie Gruick, who told the legislators she’s been placed on the government’s Domestic Terror Watch List for speaking out on the issue. “When the money runs out, where are you going to put them? In six months, you’re going to see a big disaster,” she said as whispers of “racist” went through the crowd.

“So many of the asylum seekers are children and families. Think of your children and what you would do to protect them,” Dr. Eve Meltzer-Krief, a Centerport pediatrician, said. “These are children who simply want to survive. We should evaluate what we can realistically provide. Instead of shutting our doors, we should be opening our hearts.”

Also speaking at the special meeting was Marine veteran Fred Miller of Shirley who said he is struggling after eight years of service, including combat tours during Operation Iraqi Freedom. “I received no benefits when l got home. I was shot three times and gave my all and got nothing. It’s a shame men like me have to discuss this. I was living under a bridge and had to hide my food so raccoons wouldn’t get it,” said the father of three. I don’t know what else l need to do to get help.”

“We should care for strangers, especially those who seek our help. The state, the county must find ways to help,” said former Suffolk Police officer and Army veteran Bill Kiley of Northport, who called attacks on immigrants “Political Whack-a-Mole.” He charged that unscrupulous business owners are taking advantage of employees who are forced to work off the books because of their legal status.

“You’re putting non-citizens first without them having earned it,” Terri Garafolo of Coram countered. “The country is being invaded, and Joe Biden is encouraging them to come here under conditions no human should have to endure. Don’t put a guilt trip on me. If you want to put an immigrant in your home, go ahead, but don’t ask me to pay for it.”

“I’ve worked with asylum seekers, have been to the border,” said Lisa Vertino of Coram. “The notion that we don’t know who they are is bogus. Most of them have sponsors, non-profits take care of them.”

Others railed at Biden’s open border policy saying it creates a pathway for illegal drugs entering the country. “I lost two sons to the Fentanyl that’s pouring over the border,” said Margaret Kochman of Port Jefferson. “The drugs come from China to Mexico and then into the United States. They’re letting these people do whatever they want. Close the border,” she demanded to applause from the bill’s supporters.