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Weekly Update - Week of March 22nd, 2021

March 29, 2021

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This Week in Washington
 
President Biden’s proposal to fly illegal immigrants to Northern Border states for processing is dangerous and would put the safety of our North Country community and our border law enforcement officers at risk. This proposal is especially outrageous and untenable at a time when American citizens cannot even cross the Northern Border to visit their family or access their own property. President Joe Biden has created the most significant southern border crisis in my lifetime. Yet the Biden Administration refuses to address the record number of illegal immigrants at the southern border and instead included ZERO funding for U.S. Border Patrol in his $1.9 trillion spending package. President Biden has already reassigned U.S. Border Patrol Agents from the North Country to the southern border and whistleblowers among local border officers have come forward that they have tested positive for COVID at the southern border. Our southern border is a public health, humanitarian, economic, and national security crisis due to President Biden’s failed border and immigration policies.
Introduced American Workforce Recovery Act
 
This legislation is a WIN for workers and businesses across the country It would equip more than 1 MILLION Americans with resources to upgrade their skills and pursue new careers, while incentivizing businesses to hire and educate them. If signed into law, the bill would provide states with funding from the public workforce system under the Workforce Investment and Opportunity Act to help displaced workers obtain necessary skills for sustained employment. As millions of people remain out of the workforce due to the pandemic, investments in retraining and skill development are more necessary than ever to get Americans back to work and help businesses reopen. Read more here.
The Success for Rural Students and Communities Act authorizes $60 million in grants each year through fiscal year 2027 for rural communities across the country to spur innovation and investment, improve access to higher education for rural students, and prepare them to receive the credentials necessary to step into high-demand jobs in their communities. The COVID-19 pandemic has exacerbated the need to close the degree attainment gap between students from rural communities and their peers. The Success for Rural Students and Communities Act will bring local school districts together with institutions of higher education and economic organizations to ensure our North Country students have greater opportunity to enroll in college, receive their degree, and then contribute to our local economies by thriving in high-demand jobs. Read more here.
On Wednesday, I announced the St. Lawrence County Community Development Program will receive a $1,782,879 grant from the Department of Health and Human Services for their Head Start Projects to improve the education and development of low-income children. Due to COVID-19, community based programs like Head Start are more critical than ever!
On Wednesday, I led thirteen House and four Senate colleagues in requesting the USDA provide answers to onion growers in our district about their decision to stop certain inspection requirements. I will not sit back and allow our farmers to be treated unfairly at the regulatory level. The USDA’s abrupt decision to suspend import inspections without prior notice or input from farmers put our North Country onion growers in direct competition with sub-standard foreign products during an already incredibly difficult year. I call on USDA to provide rationale for this decision and provide answers to our farmers, who deserve access to fair and open markets in the United States.
 
District Meetings and Events
 
On Tuesday, the New York Farm Bureau presented me with the American Farm Bureau Circle of Friends Award. This award is given to select lawmakers who have strong voting records in support of New York agriculture. I also received the American Farm Bureau Federation’s “Friend of Farm Bureau” award in October of 2020. It is an honor to be recognized by the New York Farm Bureau and the American Farm Bureau for my dedication to North Country farmers. I am proud to advocate on behalf of the farmers who work tirelessly to provide for our rural communities, and I extend my gratitude to them on this National Agriculture Day for their important work. I will continue to be a leading voice on important trade, labor, and government regulation issues that impact our farms and agribusinesses.
Met With NY-21 Food Service Directors
On Friday, I met with Food Services Directors from Schuylerville, Watertown, and St. Lawrence-Lewis School Districts to discuss the issues facing school food service programs during the COVID-19 pandemic. Recently, I cosponsored the Whole Milk for Healthy Kids Act, GIVE Milk Act, and advocated for the Farmers to Families Food Box Program to address food insecurity, especially in our rural communities.
In The News!
 
 
Press Republican:
 
U.S. Rep. Elise Stefanik (R-Schuylerville) sharply criticized President Joe Biden following reports that his administration is considering flying migrants to facilities near the northern border for processing. The Washington Post reported Friday that, following a new spike in families and children crossing into South Texas, U.S. Customs and Border Protection was forced to request air support from U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement to transport the migrants. Communications reviewed by the Post indicate the agency has not yet determined which northern and coastal states the migrants may be sent to. A statement from CBP reads that the agency "continually evaluates possible contingency plans and adjusts its operations as circumstances dictate, but currently there are no plans to transfer migrants from the southwest border to the northern or coastal borders.” 'HIGHEST SURGE' On Friday, Stefanik said the proposal to send migrants who had crossed the southern border illegally to northern border states was dangerous and "would put the safety of our North Country community and our border law enforcement officers at risk." Asked Tuesday if she had more details about the plans, whether they would be implemented and if there was any indication North Country facilities would be selected as destinations, her office said that was a question for the Biden administration and reiterated her opposition. “President Biden single-handedly manufactured the crisis at our southern border, and the United States is now facing the highest surge in illegal immigrants in twenty years," Stefanik said. "He needs to immediately secure and invest in our southern border, send much-needed resources to the U.S. Border Patrol agents on the frontlines and reinstate the effective policies of the Trump Administration, including the Migrant Protection Protocols, instead of spending millions of taxpayer dollars to host illegal immigrants in hotels, bus them into American communities and fly them across the country without mandating COVID-19 tests.” Biden reversed the Migrant Protection Protocols, also referred to as the "Remain in Mexico" policy, which required thousands of asylum seekers to await their immigration court hearings in Mexico. PRIOR TRANSPORTS The Post reported that, at the peak of the 2019 border surge, the Trump administration used ICE Air Flights to transport migrant families to different border sectors. It does not appear that Stefanik spoke out against the practice then, and she did not respond directly to the question of whether she supported flying migrants out of Texas to other facilities at that time. “President Biden’s proposal to fly illegal immigrants to northern border states for processing is dangerous, and especially outrageous and untenable at a time when American citizens cannot even cross the northern border to visit their family or access their own property due to the global pandemic we face," she said, essentially reiterating her initial statement. No families were sent to northern or coastal locations for processing in 2019 by CBP, that agency said. ON SHERIFF'S RADAR The ICE website lists Clinton County Jail as a detention facility. County Sheriff David Favro explained that the jail provides housing to detainees when needed and available. He said he has heard “absolutely nothing” from either ICE or CBP, and that his office was staying on top of developments regarding possible transport of migrants to facilities near the northern border “I’m watching it but nothing’s etched in stone yet,” he said. “We haven’t made any changes and there’s no causes for any adjustment yet.” For the most part, ICE detainees that come to the jail for illegal entry have crossed the northern border, Favro said. “Two or three years ago there was a small issue with some overflow from Texas and they had sent up a plane-full,” he continued, adding that such occurrences are "nothing frequent." “We had to hold onto them for a small period of time until they could find appropriate housing.” The sheriff said all those detainees were adults. "We don't house juveniles and I would not take them from ICE." Favro estimated that those migrants were at the jail for about six to eight weeks, depending on individual circumstances. ICE detainees are processed as new inmates and handled the same as local ones, the sheriff said, so he did not have much insight to provide with regard to what happens before or after they are housed at the jail.
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
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Permalink: https://stefanik.house.gov/2021/3/weekly-update-week-march-22nd-2021