NEW YORK (PIX11) – Tom Suozzi, the Democratic nominee in the closely watched special election to replace disgraced Congressman George Santos, said Tuesday he would support a temporary closure of the southern border to help stem the migrant crisis.
Suozzi, the former congressman seeking to reclaim New York's 3rd Congressional district for Democrats, made the comment during a special forum, "PIX on Politics: Pilip vs. Suozzi – Replacing Santos." The exclusive forum offered voters in New York's 3rd Congressional District the most in-depth interviews with Suozzi and his Republican opponent, Mazi Pilip, before early voting begins on Feb. 3. The special election will be held on Feb. 13.
When PIX11's Dan Mannarino asked Suozzi if he supports temporarily closing the border to stop the flow of migrants into the country, he responded, "I do."
"We need a bipartisan solution. We've had this border crisis for 35 years in America. It's worse now than ever," Suozzi added.
Suozzi said to solve the border crisis, he supports the emerging plan in the U.S. Senate to reform the asylum process, beef up border security, more quickly adjudicate immigration cases, fund localities dealing with the crisis, and at the same time provide military aid to Israel and Ukraine.
Suozzi called out former President Donald Trump for trying to kill the deal to make it easier for Republicans to campaign on the immigration issue in the 2024 presidential election.
"As Mitt Romney has said: 'That's appalling,'" Suozzi said. "Because people want us to solve the problem. They're sick of us all attacking each other fighting each other, let's solve the problems people are concerned about."
Pilip also supports a temporary closure of the border, which is in line with most other Republican lawmakers. During her interview, she was pressed on what specific ideas she would support to better secure the border. Pilip said she would support more funding for a border wall and defunding organizations that encourage illegal immigration.
"And also we need to tighten the asylum seeker standards," Pilip said. "Right now everybody claims they're asylum seeker, we need to know how real that is."
Pilip, an Israeli immigrant by way of Ethiopia, also pinned the blame for the migrant crisis on Suozzi.
"He was there in the majority [from 2020-2022]," Pilip said. "He decided to open the border."
She went on to criticize Suozzi for establishing an immigration center while he was the mayor of Glen Cove and "kicking ICE out of Nassau County" while he was county executive.
Suozzi said the immigration center was the correct way to compassionately deal with new arrivals. He also said that county executive, police recommended he stop working with immigration authorities after ICE agents executed dozens of search warrants at wrong addresses and without coordinating with local authorities.