Politicians push back on proposal to shelter asylum seekers at Atlantic City airport
ATLANTIC CITY, N.J. (CBS) -- A proposed plan to use part of Atlantic City International Airport to shelter thousands of asylum seekers from New York City is hitting a lot of turbulence.
Opponents of the plan held a news conference at the airport Friday.
"Our very way of life is being threatened right now," said Atlantic County Executive Dennis Levinson.
"When you say we are a sanctuary state people think they can come, but they can't come because there's nowhere to put them," Laura Pfrommer, the Republican mayor of Egg Harbor Township, said.
U.S. Rep. Jeff Van Drew says he didn't hear directly from the White House, but was told the airport in Egg Harbor Township was included in a list sent by the Biden Administration to New York City Mayor Eric Adams as a possible location to help shelter some of the 60,000 asylum seekers who are in the city.
"We need help here," Van Drew said. "We need to take care of our citizens and our residents who are breaking their back every single day."
The politicians argue Atlantic County doesn't have the resources and the airport is located next to an air base where classified work is conducted.
"I don't want anybody to think we don't have compassion, we most certainly do, but this is a problem that we can't solve," Levinson said.
Bert Lopez, president of the Hispanic Association of Atlantic County, agrees South Jersey may not be prepared for a large influx of people, but said asylum seekers desperately need help.
"It's one thing to say that you're compassionate and you understand the plight of immigrants, but it's another to take action."
"We need real answers, not just 'no we're not going to take in immigrants,'" Lopez said. "We need more than that, we need more of a commitment to see how we can work together to resolve the issues."
Gov. Phil Murphy's office said he has not been contacted by the White House regarding the airport.
Murphy said the Garden State would not be able to handle the influx of people.