Dehumanizing rhetoric invites abuses of humans
Brooklyn: Rep. Nicole Malliotakis made egregiously false statements in her Feb. 10 op-ed (“A $12 billion alarm for Mayor Mamdani“). She claimed: “A Freedom of Information Law request that I made last year showed that there were approximately 4,000 criminal migrants in these shelters that were arrested for 16,000 crimes!” The FOIL response she shared publicly actually said, “For the period of January 1, 2023 to October 31, 2024, the number of crimes committed in city-run migrant shelters was 1,049.”
During that period, NYC received 220,000 migrants — because the Republican governor of Texas wanted to cruelly use them as political pawns by sending them here. This indicates that the total crime rate (including nonviolent crimes) in migrant shelters was 4.77 per 1,000 residents, far lower than Manhattan’s rate of 41.6. The 16,371 figure she cited refers to crimes committed within 1,000 feet of migrant shelters — not inside them, and not necessarily by migrants.
Malliotakis has a history of spreading misleading information and incendiary lies tying immigrants to crimes, despite data showing immigrants commit crimes at far lower rates than others. We’ve seen the deadly consequences when elected leaders spread such lies: two Americans shot dead in Minneapolis by masked federal agents searching for “criminal illegal aliens” — terrorizing law-abiding immigrants and citizens who become enemies of the state through rhetoric like this. The Daily News has a duty to verify facts asserted in op-eds. Publishing demonstrably false claims that demonize vulnerable populations is journalistic malpractice. Jay Sheth
Budget bluster
Staten Island: Malliotakis cites several statistics about government spending but leaves out important context. She points out that NYC’s budget grew by about 45% since 2014. Inflation-adjusted growth would make it roughly 8%. Meanwhile, the national debt grew by more than 100% under both Democratic and Republican administrations. By comparison, the city hardly looks like the worst fiscal offender. She also criticizes roughly $7 billion spent on migrants, highlighting crime concerns, but doesn’t mention that much of that money went to local hotels, shelters, medical providers and nonprofits responsible for housing and feeding people, supporting NYC’s economy rather than providing direct cash payments. We should never regret addressing a humanitarian challenge. What I find most disappointing is that her column offers no solution other than comparing NYC to Florida, which isn’t serious policymaking. Gina Ottrando
Ordinary measure
Lake Ariel, Pa.: Why are liberal Democrats so against and so afraid of having to use ID to vote? All they can come up with is that it’s racist or discriminatory, as usual. In the past, I’ve had to (as millions of others did) show ID to open a new account, fly on a plane, buy liquor, get my fishing license, buy a gun and get into a casino. So, you tell me we shouldn’t show ID to prove we can vote? One of the most valued and sacred rights we are entitled to? Not to mention the brave Americans who gave up their lives so we can exercise that right. Joseph Beyhl
Look within
Woodland Park, N.J.: Marco Rubio went to Munich to tell European leaders that the U.S. and Europe “belong together.” Nice sentiment — wrong audience. The rift didn’t start in Europe. It started with Trump’s tariffs, his Greenland adventure and his “day one” Ukraine claims. If Rubio wants unity, he should try that speech in Washington, preferably in the Oval Office. John Dent
Election intimidation
Manhattan: All signs point to an overwhelming blue wave in the House of Representatives in 2026 from voter outrage at the cost of living, disgust with the swamp of Jeffrey Epstein-friendly billionaires around Trump and horror at the cruel paramilitaries running amok in our cities. Sixty-five percent of Americans think ICE has gone way too far. The Senate is in play now, too, leaving Trump vulnerable to an impeachment trial. Naturally, he’s laying plans to subvert the midterm elections. Sidekick Steve Bannon wants to station ICE at key Democratic-majority polling places. There’s no reason for Republicans not to accede to Democrats’ demands that ICE adopt standard law enforcement practices, including no masks, visible ID and no warrantless arrests or home invasions. Harder for the GOP to swallow will be no ICE anywhere near the polls, or stopping people on their way there. Noncitizen voting is a GOP myth for at least 30 years. Gabrielle Shatan
Never called out
Bronx: On Feb. 3, during a press conference in the Oval Office, Kaitlin Collins, CNN’s chief White House correspondent who has worked for CNN since 2017, asked the president a question regarding survivors of the Epstein sex trafficking conspiracy. Instead of responding, Trump insulted her, first claiming that she never smiles because, he declared, she “never tells the truth,” then denigrated her as “the worst reporter. No wonder. CNN has no ratings because of people like you.” Not a single other reporter came to her defense. Why is that? Whenever Trump boasts about acing an “intelligence test,” why do none of the reporters in the room set him straight and tell him that the tests he takes are designed to determine whether a person is suffering from dementia? Miriam Levine Helbok
Previously unreleased
Eastchester, N.Y.: To Voicer Richard Skibins, who likened U.S. Attorney General Pam Bondi to being Donald Trump’s Ghislaine Maxwell: When Merrick Garland was AG, I didn’t see you saying how disgraceful he was. How come the Epstein files weren’t released during Joe Biden’s term? I guess the people actually running the show wouldn’t let them out. But I digress. Russell Pinto
Captions, please
Staten Island: I was hopeful that the Bad Bunny halftime show would have subtitles. I would have liked the chance to appreciate the music had I known what he was singing about. Myra B. Goodman
A few more
Huntington, L.I.: The teacher profiled in “Teaching our hidden history” (Feb. 8) stated that she plans to assign a Black History Month project to pick a figure from the African Diaspora — for example, Shirley Chisholm, Roberto Clemente and James Baldwin — write a short essay or Google slides, and get ready to present their research. I’d like to offer a few other worthy individuals to that list: Thomas Sowell and Walter E. Williams. I’d add another person who, while not part of the African Diaspora, has had a great impact upon the history of Black Americans: Lyndon Johnson. Tom Saracco
Indigenous knowledge
Williamsburg, N.M.: Inuit activist Sheila Watt-Cloutier has taught us that human trauma and planet trauma are one and the same. Whether it’s the distorted history of warriors like the Apache warrior Lozen, or the suppressed stories of the thawing Arctic tundra, the truth is finally coming out. We can’t have a healthy planet if we have a broken history. It’s time to listen to the people who were the “early warning system” for the rest of us. Laraine Schollmann
Olympian conception
White Plains, N.Y.: Now that the Olympic Village has run out of free condoms, I wonder how many future Olympians will be born in nine months. Randi Bernstein Feigenbaum
