Rule of law on ballot in NYC suburbs as cop, veteran trade barbs over border crisis, policing

Former NYPD Inspector Alison Esposito slammed her congressional opponent at an event for GOP women candidates, claiming his move from the military to Congress led to a change in his tact toward public service.

In response, Rep. Patrick Ryan, D-N.Y., an Iraq War veteran, highlighted a recent trip to the southern border and bipartisan support from Hudson Valley law enforcement officials.

Esposito, a 2024 recruit by Rep. Elise Stefanik’s Republican women’s candidate group, E-PAC, said she is a cop, not a politician.

“That is what I am. That is what I always will be,” she said, adding she was in the thick of the George Floyd riots and recounting being hit in the head by a cabinet tossed out a window by protesters. She compared it to a scene in “Braveheart.”

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She claimed Ryan portrays himself as a moderate on such rule-of-law issues, while acting otherwise. Ryan later pushed back.

“He wants to play the moderate game, but then, at the same time, it’s important to remember when he was the Ulster County executive, he made Ulster a sanctuary county,” Esposito said.

“Now, I thank him very much for the service, and I respect it immensely. But I would submit that the second he took off that uniform, he stopped serving the American people.”

In 2019, Ryan enacted an order adjusting procedures involving cooperation with immigration authorities, and he noted Thursday that Ulster strenuously avoided “sanctuary city” terminology.

Ryan said he was one of 15 Democrats to demand President Biden seal the border by executive order, adding, “The No. 1 thing I learned as an Army officer: When in charge, take charge. We are in a crisis; the president is in charge.”

Esposito highlighted how her area had seen migrants being sent upriver to be housed as New York City became overrun. 

Migrants had been sent to suburbs like Orangeburg, Middletown and Newburgh, and Esposito said New York Democrats who supported sanctuary state policies finally realized what they had agreed to.

“It was only a matter of time. … They were fine with the influx at the southern border as long as [migrants] stayed in the south. When the [border-state] governors were dealing with thousands a day, they would send a couple hundred up. And now you have the same sanctuary politicians screaming, ‘Oh no, wait, this is unsustainable’,” she said.

Both candidates said rule of law and border security are top election issues, and Esposito illustrated her own recent visit to Orange County, where the issues remain front and center.

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“You had an individual that was on the deportation list that was awaiting trial who [allegedly] killed two people,” she said. “You come out of ShopRite in Middletown, and you have the migrants and the illegal immigrants holding their babies, selling water, selling roses,” Esposito said.

Stefanik said Esposito and five other endorsed women she introduced at her E-PAC event could be the difference in November.

“With the help of these rising stars, House Republicans are going to … help save our country from the disastrous policies of far-left Democrats.”