Biden aide Tom Perez, tasked with helping NY through migrant crisis, lands VIP suite at Buffalo Bills stadium as border outrage grows

Taylor Swift wasn’t the only VIP at the Buffalo Bills playoff game against the Kansas City Chiefs in January.

Gov. Kathy Hochul’s administration invited Tom Perez — a top adviser to President Biden who is tasked with helping New York address the migrant crisis — as one of the guests who sat in the state’s cozy “I Love New York” suite at Highmark Stadium to watch the Jan. 21 game, new records show.

The VIP suite is run by the Empire State Development agency responsible for boosting New York’s economy.

Critics wondered what Perez, a Buffalo native and a big Bills fan, had done to deserve the VIP treatment.

“I didn’t make the guest list. But if I did I would have asked Perez about the Biden border crisis,” said state Sen. George Borrello, a Republican who represents the Buffalo region.

Assemblywoman Jaime Williams, a Brooklyn Democrat who represents the communities surrounding the Floyd Bennett Field emergency migrant shelter, said, “If Perez and the Biden administration ‘love New York’ then they should secure the border.”

Empire State Development is required to publish an annual report on who is invited to watch Bills games in the “I Love New York” suite.

Hochul and her husband, William, who formerly worked as a top executive for the Bills stadium’s concessionaire, Delaware North, are frequent guests.

The governor, however, was holding her own Bills-themed related fundraiser in Manhattan while Perez watched the Bills lose to the Chiefs from the suite, accompanied by a guest, Dr. Jose Perez, of Hamburg, per the records.

Perez, through the White House, had no immediate comment.

Other guests of the state have included Assembly Speaker Carl Heastie (D-Bronx), who was in the suite for the Dec. 17 game against the Dallas Cowboys. Heastie is a Cowboys fan.

Assembly Majority Leader Crystal Peoples-Stokes, a Buffalo Democrat, also attended with a guest.

Heastie pal and lobbyist Patrick Jenkins, who is also close to the governor and the Queens Democratic Party, was in the VIP suite along with his wife, Dawn Cotter-Jenkins, too.

Another lobbyist, Kathleen Achibar of Boyd of Bolton St. Johns, who has ties to the Buffalo region, also was in the suite for the Cowboys game.

At the Bills Oct. 1 game against the Miami Dolphins, actor William Fitchner sat in the state suit along with 10 Toronto-based staffers of Oscar-award winning Guilliermo del Torro.

New York provides generous tax breaks to film and TV companies that produce shows in the state.

According to the Empire State Development report, the guests made charitable donations valued at the price of the ticket, with the exception of Perez. The report did not indicate that he was asked or made such a donation.

Hochul’s office said she’s in contact with the White House about the migrant crisis and other issues when asked about not being with Perez at the Bills game.

“Governor Hochul has multiple conversations with White House officials each week, including lengthy in-person conversations with Chief of Staff Zients and Senior Advisor Perez during her White House visit less than two weeks ago,” a Hochul spokesperson said.

In 2022, Buffalo native Hochul finalized a controversial deal with the Bills’ ownership to build a new stadium across the street from the current 1970-era facility located in Orchard Park, a suburb of Buffalo.

The new stadium is expected to open in 2026, and originally carried a $1.4 billion price tag, most of which is being coughed up by New York taxpayers.

New York state will subsidize $600 million and Erie County will chip in another $250 million for the new stadium.

The combined $850 million had been the largest taxpayer subsidy for a stadium in the history of the NFL until the Tennessee Titans announced a total $1.26 billion public funding splurge for their new stadium last year.

Empire State Development said Monday night that the Bills stadium suite is managed to encourage economic development in Western New York.

For example, an agency spokesperson said, six tickets were provided to the Western NY Amherst Chamber of Commerce.

The office said suite guests can make a donation to a charity of their choice for the price of a ticket, which is determined by the Bills.

The state declined use of the suite for the new stadium.

Instead, Erie County was offered a suite for the new stadium and county officials will determine its purpose and compliance.