A Migrant Mini-Dystopia in Queens
Welcome to Joe and Kam’s migrant dystopia — an abandoned former Rite Aid in Astoria, Queens, transformed into a trash-ridden eyesore and overrun with migrants, drunks and passed-out junkies.
It’s yet one more ugly consequence of the come-one-come-all border policies that President Biden and his border czar, Kamala Harris, have imposed these past 3 ½ years.
As The Post reported Sunday, middleaged derelicts took over the site some seven months ago, planting Mexican, American and Puerto Rican flags on its roof and hauling in sofas, tables, chairs and mattresses.
The Post spotted several boozed up men milling around, with another two unconscious on the ground. One seemed to be selling drugs. Another urinated in the open.
None seemed to speak English, and one flashed a large knife when The Post approached. “It’s got a ‘Mad Max’ vibe going on,” says one disgusted neighbor. Locals are fuming, and who can blame them?
Yet this was perfectly predictable: More than 8 million migrants have flooded in under Biden, many unvetted, with no permanent place to go and no jobs. An abandoned site is the perfect target for them.
Plans for the property remain unclear, but City Hall can’t let the site fester further.
Fortunately, some of the mess was cleaned up by Sunday, when The Post’s story appeared. But some derelicts remained nearby. How long before the area gets trashed again?
The city, after all, has other priorities: caring for the 65,000 migrants it has in shelters, and bringing crime down with a shortage of police.
Plus, powerful pols like state Sen. Michael Gianaris (D-Queens), who represents the district, seem to want this kind of blight.
Sure, Gianaris on Sunday called the site “completely unacceptable” and demanded the landlord “be held to account.” Yet he was a key figure in killing a deal that would have had Amazon investing billions not far from the area — and employing 25,000 people. He preferred blight to renewal.
Nor has Gianaris complained much about the Biden-Harris open borders policies at the heart of the problem.
Voters can voice their displeasure with such “progressive” policies by rejecting Harris in November. They’ll also have a chance to send a strong message to pro-dystopia pols like Gianaris as well. They should.