Veteran removed from Staten Island nursing home to make room for illegal immigrants

An elderly military veteran was kicked out of his New York City nursing home to make room for illegal immigrants amidst the ongoing crisis at the US/Mexico border.

Frank Tammaro, 95, a veteran of the Korean War, said he was only given two months notice to find a new assisted living facility after management had sold it to the city to house illegal immigrants, according to Fox News.

"The thing I'm annoyed about is how they did it, it was very disgraceful what they did to the people in Island Shores," Tammaro said of his former Staten Island assisted living facility during a press conference on Monday.

Tammaro claimed he tried to protest the decision but there was not enough time because "everything was done behind closed doors" and that the decision was already final.
 

"One day there was a notice on the board. I think that gave us a month and a half to find out where we were going to go," Tammaro said. "I thought my suitcases were going to be on the curb because I'm not that fast."

"If it wasn't for my daughter, they would've been on the curb. That was it. I said, 'No, no, no, no, you're not moving me,' and they said, 'Yes, yes, yes we are.' Everything was done behind closed doors – we didn't have a chance to actually make any attempt to stop them because there wasn't enough time."

Congresswoman Nicole Malliotakis (R-NY) explained during the press conference that Mayor Adams' administration made a deal with Homes for the Homeless to turn the Staten Island assisted living facility into a migrant shelter.

Malliotakis slammed the reported deal and said that it shows "our country and our city's priorities are backwards."

"My blood pressure went through the roof when I found out Homes for the Homeless cut a deal with the City of New York to turn Island Shores into a migrant shelter," the congresswoman said. 

"Our tax dollars as citizens of New York should not be utilized to house citizens of other countries, especially at the expense of our senior citizens and veterans who put their lives on the line, paid taxes their whole lives and built our communities," Malliotakis added.

David Carr, a New York City councilman, told SI Live that the migrant shelter is slated to be open within the next week.

This comes as 10,000 illegal immigrants have been flooding through the US/Southern border per day, which has created a significant crisis across the country.

Over the past year, Mayor Adams has declared a state of emergency over the crisis and has called for the city to revoke its "sanctuary" status. At a Town Hall earlier this month, Adams insisted that the crisis will "destroy New York City."

Data shows that there are roughly 60,000 illegal immigrants currently residing in the Big Apple. According to New York Post, only 800 adult-aged illegal immigrants have filed the necessary paperwork required to obtain work visas which will allow them to start earning a legal wage.

In addition to the Staten Island assisted living facility, the Adams administration has transformed hotels, schools, gymnasiums, and other facilities into temporary migrant shelters which has resulted in mass backlash from NYC residents.

In March, it was reported that the cost to house these illegal immigrants in taxpayer-funded facilities amounts to $10 million per day. However, that number has most likely increased given that the amount of illegal immigrants has reportedly doubled in the city since the report.