Voters in New York’s Third Congressional District are braving cold, rain, and snow today to fill the seat previously held by scandal-swept Republican George Santos. As the GOP holds the U.S House by a scalpel-thin majority, tonight’s election results either will give Republicans a little breathing room or force them to lunge for their oxygen masks when deciding anything more controversial than National Cantaloupe Month. Republican Mazi Pilip, age 44 or 45, is something completely different.
The member of the Nassau County Legislature is a one-woman Rainbow Coalition of the Right. She was born into extreme poverty in Ethiopia as an orthodox Jew. She knew little about precise dates, running water, or electricity until age 12. As part of Operation Solomon, she legally escaped to Israel, which welcomed her and thousands of other members of this lost tribe of Judaism. She served in the Paratrooper Brigade of the intrepid Israel Defense Forces before immigrating legally to the United States of America. (READ MORE: Insuring Illegals Takes Care from ‘Legals’)
Friends of Israel and Jews should take comfort and encouragement as this mother of seven wears a Star of David conspicuously around her neck. Maddeningly, too many on the Democrat Left now see such symbols of Jewish faith as signals to taunt, assault, or even assail those who wear them.
Pilip’s status as a legal immigrant gives her extremely strong credibility to slam her opponent’s peaceful, easy feelings toward illegal aliens. With America’s border ripped wide open by President Joe Biden and the Democrats, even bleeding-heart New Yorkers are sick and tired of the rising cost, mounting squalor, and growing carnage that illegal aliens have inflicted on the Empire State.
“Please get out and vote for me, Mazi Pilip,” she asked this morning, via Facebook. “I will secure the border, keep families safe, and stop the Suozzi/Biden sanctuary city policies.”
Democrat Tom Suozzi, 61, is trying to reclaim the seat he held for three terms, from 2017 to 2023. Unfortunately for him, he is on the defensive as Pilip and the GOP remind voters about his dismal record on illegal immigration.
Suozzi signed a Feb. 16, 2022, letter organized by hard-left, anti-Israel, anti-Semite Congresswoman Cori Bush (D – Mo.). Bush, Suozzi, and 87 other Democrats urged Biden to scrap a key tool used to combat illegal aliens. (READ MORE: Guilt-Tripping Our Way to Self-Destruction)
“It is time to undo the United States’ draconian immigration policies, particularly policies introduced under the Trump Administration, such as the use of Title 42, that circumvent our humanitarian obligations,” they argued. Title 42 sped the deportation of illegals, given the health threat they posed during the COVID-19 pandemic.
The pro-illegal Democrats got what they wanted. Biden eighty-sixed Title 42 last May 11. And then — exactly as Republicans warned — the illegal alien influx swelled from waves to a tsunami. May 2023’s 206,690 illegal aliens caught at the Southwest border soared to a record 302,034 last December — up 46.1 percent.
Suozzi signed this letter along with radical Democrat “Squad” members Ilhan Omar of Minnesota, Rashida Tlaib of Michigan, and New Yorkers Jamaal Bowman and Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez. Indeed, Suozzi’s name on the letter appears right beside that of far-left pinup Maxine Waters of California.
On Sep. 6, 2017, Suozzi voted on Amendment 56, introduced by Congressman Jason Smith (R – Missouri). As he explained on the House floor, “This amendment is very straightforward. It just requires that funds in Transportation, Housing and Urban Development, and Related Agencies only go to cities and States that uphold Federal law.” Specifically, no federal taxpayer dollars would subsidize transit, housing, and urban renewal projects in sanctuary cities that welcome, nurture, and shield illegal aliens, including fugitives from justice. That’s common sense.
Rep. David Price (D-N.C.) retorted with typical left-wing hysteria: “The end result would tear entire communities apart, would greatly hinder the ability of local law enforcement to effectively do their job.”
Suozzi chose hysteria over common sense and voted against Smith’s anti-sanctuary city/pro-public-safety amendment.
On Feb. 27, 2019, the House considered a proposal by then-Congressman Doug Collins (R – Georgia). “The motion to recommit will notify U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, commonly known as ICE when an illegal alien who is prohibited from possessing a firearm attempts to purchase a firearm by going through the process of application.”
Congressman Jerry Nadler (D-N.Y.) mocked Collins’ measure as “a phony issue.” Nadler added: “Number two, this is just a red herring to try to mix up the immigration issue with the gun violence issue, and they really have nothing to do with each other.” (READ MORE: Mayor Eric Adams: The $53 Million Man)
Say whaaaaat?
Nadler’s clueless remark would shock, if not disappoint, Melvi Amador-Rios. On Oct. 23, 2016, acting on orders of the leader of the transnational MS-13 gang, two henchmen “confronted John Doe 1” age 16, in Queens, according to the US Justice Department. “At Amador-Rios’s direction, the chequeos beat John Doe 1, shot him in the head, and attempted to shoot him a second time as he lay on the ground. The gun malfunctioned, but, as a result of the gunshot wound, John Doe 1 was permanently paralyzed.”
In 2017, the DOJ added: “Amador-Rios and other gang members, robbed at gunpoint a money transfer business, during which [conspirator Luis] Rivas pistol-whipped an employee in the face.” In 2018, also in Queens, “Amador-Rios and other gang members committed a robbery involving holding the owner and a customer of a convenience store at gunpoint.”
Elmer Alexander Lopez, an illegal alien from El Salvador, pleaded guilty to a July 3, 2016, shooting on Long Island. Lopez and two MS-13 members tracked John Doe #4, a suspected rival gang member, according to Justice. Lopez and two conspirators spotted Doe “playing basketball with a group of individuals.” DOJ continued, “one of the MS-13 members shot at the group. John Doe #4 was struck by a bullet in the shoulder. The victim received medical treatment and survived the shooting.”
Suozzi ignored the mayhem that surrounded him, sided with Nadler, and opposed Collins’ motion. Amazingly enough, Tom Suozzi voted to make it easier for illegal alien criminals to buy guns.
When he ran for governor in 2022, Suozzi boasted at a Democratic primary debate on June 7: “I kicked ICE out of Nassau County.”
Tonight, after polls close at 9:00 p.m. EST, America will learn if Mazi Pilip successfully harnessed Tom Suozzi’s pro-illegal-alien record to keep him in Nassau County.
Deroy Murdock is a Manhattan-based Fox News contributor.
