Rep. Nick LaLota (R-NY) is putting two sanctuary jurisdictions in his own Long Island district on notice: reverse course or lose his support for millions of dollars in federal earmarks. The New York Republican said he will no longer back discretionary Community Project Funding requests from local governments that refuse to cooperate with federal immigration authorities. LaLota framed the move as direct pressure on the two municipalities involved and a warning to other local governments considering similar policies.
The dispute centers on East Hampton Town and East Hampton Village, both located inside New York’s 1st Congressional District, which LaLota represents. His response focuses on the part of federal spending over which individual members of Congress have substantial influence: requests for local road projects, water improvements, first-responder equipment, and other earmarks submitted through the annual appropriations process. LaLota said municipalities adopting sanctuary policies should no longer expect him to advance those requests.
“Of course, Congress controls the power of the purse,” LaLota said. “We have the money, and I’ve been getting tens of millions of dollars back home for individuals paving their roads, for water quality, and some first responder equipment.” He then made clear that municipalities cannot expect him to keep securing those funds while adopting policies he says interfere with federal immigration enforcement.
In the video posted to his official X account, LaLota described the money at issue as discretionary dollars that some critics call pork. He instead referred to them as earmarks or Community Project Funding requests, the formal process members use to seek money for specific local projects. Because those requests depend on congressional sponsorship and support, LaLota said he has told local officials that his backing is no longer automatic.
“What I’ve told my municipalities moving forward is that on those discretionary dollars — and some would call them pork, I would call them earmarks or community project funding requests — I’ve told all of my towns and villages in my congressional district: no more,” LaLota said. “I will not support your request anymore if you have these sanctuary policies.” His statement limited the threatened cutoff to discretionary project funding rather than every federal dollar flowing into the municipalities.
LaLota said the restriction currently applies to the two East Hampton jurisdictions, but he expressed hope that the prospect of losing federal project money would cause both governments to reverse their policies. “Right now, it only pertains to those two small jurisdictions,” he said. “My hope is they will reverse those policies. They’ll choose those millions of dollars from me rather than these crazy far-left policies.”
Listen to LaLota explain the funding cutoff here:
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The congressman also presented the move as a deterrent aimed at any other town or village in his district that might consider following East Hampton’s example. “But it’s also a warning sign to some of these other drifting municipalities on: don’t go there,” he said. By tying future earmark support to cooperation with federal authorities, LaLota is using Congress’ control over discretionary spending to pressure local officials before similar policies spread elsewhere in his district.
LaLota said the goal is to keep local governments working with federal immigration officers when criminal illegal aliens are identified. “We want you to cooperate. We want your communities to be safe,” he said. “We want to be able to apprehend the criminal aliens where they exist.” He argued that sanctuary policies make those apprehensions more difficult and create unnecessary risks for communities and law enforcement.
The Republican said municipalities remain free to choose their own policies, but his support for their discretionary funding requests will depend on that choice. His message to the other towns and villages in his district was to continue cooperating with federal authorities rather than follow East Hampton’s lead. “That’s a safer, better, more prosperous way for everybody to move forward,” LaLota said.