Astorino: Free College Education Plan For Migrants Is "Infuriating"

New York Mayor Eric Adams has floated a proposal to offer free SUNY college educations in Sullivan County to up to 100 migrants, at an annual cost to the taxpayers of at least $1.2 million. Speaking on WOR 710’s Len Berman and Michael Riedel in the Morning program, former Westchester County executive Rob Astorino raised a critical voice against the mayor’s idea.

Astorino told the morning hosts about his current situation as a father trying to scrape together tuition money for his daughter. “Do you know how much pressure is on my wife and I as an average middle-class family to pay for college? And the thought that the mayor and these Democrats are giving free college or breaks for college for non-citizens is infuriating to me, because I’ve saved my whole life to try to pay for college for my kids.”

Astorino views the mayor’s proposal as a symbol of his unwillingness to lay the blame for the migrant crisis at the feet of the Biden administration. “If he did that, it would really put a lot of pressure on the Democratic party, having a prominent Democrat say ‘stop this,’” said Astorino. “It is just another stick in the eye to the actual citizen of the United States.” 

He also turned a critical eye toward Governor Kathy Hochul’s New York Housing Compact, which was inserted into the state budget. “She put this whole housing thing in the budget- this is the takeover of local zoning,” Astorino told Berman and Riedel. “I mean, this is a huge issue, it will fundamentally change every suburb, and, like nobody’s talking about it.”

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