Massena, New York Residents Outraged

New York City Mayor Eric L. Adams is contemplating the utilizing of a small airport in upstate New York as a destination for illegal immigrants. Officials of the village of Massena—a hamlet spanning 4.73-square-miles and home to some 10,151 residents—were neither informed of Adams’s intention to transform Massena International Airport (MSS) into a de facto holding-facility nor consulted by state or federal officials.

Adams's proposal sharply contradicts New York Governor Kathleen Hochul's edict setting forth illegal aliens should remain exclusively within New York City’s five boroughs.

News of Adams’s scheme was made public by a U.S. national news outlet which reported that Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas had furnished the New York mayor with a list of 11 possible sites for such accommodation.

Adams contends New York can no longer handle the influx of illegals within its municipal boundaries.

"New York City has run out of room,” Adams conceded. “We are going to use any space that's available to take the pressure off New York City residents.”

Massena Deputy Town Supervisor Patrick M. Facteau seems perplexed. "We're as much in the dark as anyone else."

"Nobody's really communicated with us at all ... I think the county's in the dark, I think everybody's in the dark about what's going to happen to these people and what the story is."

Massena International Airport is a small, non-towered facility which sees an average of only 24 daily aircraft operations. In 2011—the last year for which data is available—ten general aviation aircraft were based on the airport.

To the subject of transforming MSS into an encampment, Mr. Facteau asserted: "You can't because [aircraft] wouldn't be able to land.”

Facteau continued: "Until we have some more concrete answers, I don't really have anything I can really say about it. I'm waiting to see what's reality and what's coming and how it's coming and how many [migrants], even if it's none."

The U.S. Department of Homeland Security is reportedly considering alternative sites to which New York’s population of illegal migrants might be quietly housed, including Westchester’s Camp Smith, New Windsor’s Stewart Airport (SWF), three locations in the vicinity of Schenectady, the aforementioned Massena International Airport, the Army Reserve Center on Staten Island, and an IRS building in Long Island City. The Marine Corps Reserve Center at Floyd Bennett Field is being considered, also—despite New York officials having previously deemed it unsuitable.

On 30 August, New York state Senator Daniel G. Stec (Republican, Queensbury) and Congresswoman Elise M. Stefanik (Republican, Willsboro) released individual statements opposing the housing of illegal aliens at the Massena Airport.

The Congresswoman stated: "I proudly stand with the bipartisan coalition of local elected officials and the hardworking residents of St. Lawrence County who oppose using Massena International Airport as a site to house illegal immigrants. Upstate New York and the North Country is not a Sanctuary City...”

Stefanik concluded: “I will continue to work with this bipartisan coalition of local officials to ensure our communities remain safe, and that Massena International Airport is not used as a site to house illegal immigrants. Once again, I call on Joe Biden to end his radical open border policies and secure our Northern and Southern Borders."

FMI: https://flymassena.com/