For the fiscal year 2021, the United States Border Patrol reported over 1.6 million encounters with migrants along the Southern border. This was a sharp increase from fiscal 2020; only 400,000 encounters were reported. There are those who attribute this to President Donald Trump‘s building of the border wall as well as his policies; however, there are others who believe that the onset of the coronavirus slowed down the number of migrants attempting to cross the border between Mexico and Texas.
Then there are those who believe that no only did comments made by President Joe Biden send an inferred invitation to enter the country illegally, but they also believe the polices that Biden has put in place have encouraged migrants to flood the Southern border. According to Pew Research, these plans include allowing more new immigrants into the country while also creating a pathway to citizenship for those illegal immigrants already here. Currently, there are an approximately 10.5 million illegals in the United States, and that number continues to grow daily.
Late last year, The New York Post uncovered information regarding the transportation of minors into the interior of the United States. Many of these minors were flown to places such as White Plains, New York, where they deplaned. From there, some of these children were reportedly reunited with family members while others were sent to host homes in the Northeast.
When confronted with this information in October 2021, White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki seemed to joke in her response. Psaki seemed to dispute that the flights were carried out in the middle of the night, although reporters for the Post had witnessed at least three plans landing in both Westchester County, NY and Jacksonville, FL.
Psaki said, “We are talking about early flights. Earlier than you might like to take a flight.” However, these flights came in after normal operating hours, and this is considered “past curfew” – at least in the case of the New York state flights.
Although Fox News and The New York Post have regularly reported on the crisis at the Southern border, the story seemed to wither away, especially after the Post initially reported on the late-night flights. However, Florida Governor Ron DeSantis took action regarding migrants being flown into the Sunshine State. Florida filed a lawsuit against the Biden Administration upon learning of these “clandestine flights” authorized by the White House.
Governor DeSantis said, regarding the situation, “Here’s what happens with these flights. There’s no notification to the state of Florida. These are done mostly in the middle of the night. And it’s clandestine.” At least fifteen flights came into Florida overnight, according to CNN. At the time, DHS stated that these flights were for underage immigrants being transported to meet sponsors or to “special children’s shelters.” Flight logs obtained by CNN showed that these planes landed in Jacksonville between 11 p.m. and 3 a.m.
However, former Westchester County Executive Rob Astorino utilized the Freedom of Information Act to obtain footage recorded by police officers in White Plains, NY – officers who had no idea that flights were coming into the local airport overnight. While the initial issue with these clandestine flights concerned minors, this was not the case in the leaked video obtained by Fox news.
Mr. Astorino said that he had witnessed migrants get off the chartered flights, get on a bus that then dropped them off at a Costco, and then “they were released into cars into the community.” Astorino also told Tucker Carlson that the Biden Administration is lying about the circumstances surrounding the video: ” . . .they keep saying ‘it’s just unaccompanied kids.’ Completely a lie.” Reporters say the migrants are not always minors, and that some of them may have criminal records.
The fifty-one minute video was obtained from a police officer, Sgt. Michael Hamborsky, who was wearing bodycam gear during the encounter. As a local policeman, Hamborsky questioned the contractors who were tasked with transporting migrants around the country. The contractors were employees of MVM Inc., which is a private security firm. The firm is under contract for $136 million. Employees of the security firm were on the flight with the migrants.
Hamborsky told the contractors that they were at a secure facility, saying, “we (local police) really don’t know anything and we’re in charge of security.” The contractor told Hamborsky that members of MVM were not allowed to have their pictures taken, nor were they supposed to show identification. Hamborsky asked if DHS had authorized this, and the contractor replied, “Yes, and the United States Army. You’re on a federal installation but DHS wants everything on the down low.”
The second contractor told Hamborsky that everything they were doing was meant to be “hush hush.” The contractor went on to explain that White Plains, NY was chosen because of its location and the likelihood that the media would not be alerted to the late-night flights. He also related that “we don’t even know where we’re going when they tell us.”
When Hamborsky asked why there was such an element of secrecy, one contractor replied, “You know why, look who’s in office. That’s why, come on. Because if this gets out, the government is betraying the American people.”
Hamborsky also asked the bus driver meeting the planes where he was taking the migrants. He replied that he wasn’t sure.
Hamborsky did some investigating as to where the buses were headed. He was able to find out that some buses went to Virginia, while others went to New Jersey or Delaware. There were at least seventy flights that went to Jacksonville, Florida. It is unknown exactly where the individuals go once they are bused away from the airport.
According to Judge Janine Pirro, sources at Westchester County police tell her that these are usually single, adult males. They are taken to Costco nearby, then they are released from there. It is difficult to know exactly where these individuals go from there. However, Pirro also added that the minors brought to the area had been enrolled in local schools and that some districts were having to hire new teachers.
Pirro said that her sources revealed this has been going on since April 2021.
