Border Patrol Union Endorses Mazi Pilip in New York Congressional Race

Mazi Pilip arrives at a press conference in Queens Village, New York, on Feb. 7, 2024. (Courtesy of Juliette Fairley)

While Mazi Pilip, the Republican candidate for New York’s Third Congressional District, held a press conference in Queens Village to announce an endorsement by the National Border Patrol Council, her opponent, Democrat Tom Suozzi, was at a virtual press conference responding to the failure by Congress this week to pass a standalone aid package for Israel.

The Feb. 13 special election of the representative of the Third District, which spans Nassau County and a part of Eastern Queens, is less than a week away.

“New York has become a border state,” Ms. Pilip said. “Thanks to Biden and Suozzi’s open border policy, 200,000 migrants have arrived in New York. In fact, a migrant tent city was built right here in Queens Village to house 1,000 migrants.”

Ms. Pilip’s press conference took place in front of the Detective William T. Gunn Playground on Hillside Avenue, across the street from the Creedmoor Hospital and adjacent to a tent shelter for illegal immigrants.

People who live nearby have said they want the city to close down the illegal immigrant housing facility.

“It does not belong here across the street from a playground or next door to a SNAP [Services Now For Adult Persons] Senior Center,“ Phil Orenstein, Queens Village Republican Club president, told The Epoch Times. ”Seniors are afraid to get their dinners or lunches.”

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The National Border Patrol Council, which also endorsed Rep. Elise Stefanik (R-N.Y.), is a nonpartisan union that represents border patrol agents in New York and nationwide.

Brandon Judd, president of the National Border Patrol Council, said the organization chose to endorse Ms. Pilip because Mr. Suozzi is in favor of sanctuary cities.

“He was for ensuring that New York police could not interact with federal agencies as it pertained to illegal immigrants in his district,” Mr. Judd told The Epoch Times.

During his remote press conference, Mr. Suozzi called the endorsement an obvious political deal with the right wing and the “Trumpers,” people who support former President Donald Trump.

“The head of the Border Patrol union is a close friend of President Trump,” Mr. Suozzi added. “It’s completely illogical that the union president, whose biggest issue is the border and his border patrol agents and who’s getting more border patrol agents under this bipartisan deal, would come out backing her, not me.”

Mazi Pilip announces an endorsement from the National Border Patrol Council at a press conference in Queens Village, New York, on Feb. 7, 2024. (Courtesy of Juliette Fairley)

A National Republican Congressional Committee YouTube campaign video alleges that Mr. Suozzi kicked Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) out of Nassau County and weakened the borders during his previous tenure in the seat.

When asked why he expelled ICE from Nassau County, Mr. Suozzi claimed that when they came to Nassau County, they refused to coordinate with the Nassau County Police Department.

An illegal immigrant shelter in Queens Village, N.Y., on Feb. 7, 2024. (Courtesy of Juliette Fairley)

“They had 96 warrants for pre-dawn raids where they knocked down people’s doors, went in with shotguns and cowboy hats with heavy, heavy equipment,” he said. “They scared ... a lot of families and children. The problem was that 90 of those 96 warrants were for the wrong address.”

Mr. Suozzi was flanked on the Zoom web conferencing platform by Democrat congressmen Ritchie Torres (NY-15), Dan Goldman (NY-10), Brad Schneider (IL-10), and Josh Gottheimer (NJ-5), who were all calling for a bipartisan compromise on Israel, Ukraine, Taiwan, and the border.

On Feb. 6, Congress failed to pass the $17.6 billion Israel aid bill.

Rep. Anthony D'Esposito (R-N.Y.) supports candidate Mazi Pilip at GOP club in Franklin Square, N.Y., on Feb. 7, 2024 (Courtesy of Juliette Fairley)

Mr. Torres blamed House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) and House Republicans.

“House Republicans delayed a vote on a clean pro-Israel bill for more than three months,” Mr. Torres said at the press conference. “That’s not pro-Israel. That’s playing politics at the expense of both America and Israel. We all have a commitment to defending the U.S.–Israel relationship that transcends party politics.”

On Feb. 6, when House Republicans attempted to impeach Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas, they failed because some Republicans voted with Democrats. The final vote was 214–216.

Ms. Pilip told The Epoch Times that she would have voted to impeach Mr. Mayorkas.

“The fentanyl, illegal guns, and human trafficking we see at the border is all being delivered to New York,” Ms. Pilip said. “We need to invest in our border patrol agents and give them the technologies they need to keep terrorists from entering our country. We need to restart construction of the border wall.”

After her morning press conference, Ms. Pilip joined Rep. Anthony D'Esposito (R-N.Y.) and hundreds of volunteers at the North Valley Stream GOP Club in Franklin Square.

Volunteers prepare to canvas in support of Mazi Pilip at the GOP Club in Franklin Square, N.Y., on Feb. 7, 2024 (Courtesy of Juliette Fairley)

The volunteers were there to canvass door-to-door in support of Ms. Pilip.

When asked about the Senate border deal, Mr. D'Esposito said that after the House sent HR-2 to the Senate in May 2023, it sat on the desk of Sen. Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) collecting dust.

“HR-2 was not the perfect bill, but it was an opportunity for us to start negotiations and conversations and the Democrats failed to do that,” Mr. D'Esposito told The Epoch Times. “Now, they want to start having conversations, and it’s purely political because we’re in an election year and President Biden’s polling numbers are completely in the dumpster, even in places where he did very well in 2020.”