Chris Lieberman, FISM News
Several Republican politicians are demanding answers after reports of at least four flights of unaccompanied immigrant minors landing in Pennsylvania’s Wilkes-Barre/Scranton International Airport in December.
Jim Gallagher, president of Aviation Technologies Inc., the airport’s fixed-base operator, confirmed that U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) chartered the flights originating in Texas on Dec. 11, Dec. 17, and two on Christmas Day. Gallagher said that the passengers were mostly or all minors who did not speak English. They were escorted from the planes onto buses but were not in handcuffs and did not appear to be under arrest.
According to the National Pulse, some are referring to these secretive flights as “ghost flights,” and it is believed that ICE is using them to transport illegal immigrants away from the southern border.
Former congressman Lou Barletta, a Republican running for governor in Pennsylvania, wrote a letter to Pennsylvania Governor Tom Wolf and Attorney General Josh Shapiro questioning why these flights were allowed to land in the state and whether or not they did so with the governor and attorney general’s knowledge. Barletta expressed a number of concerns, including the safety and security of citizens, the Covid-19 status of the migrants, and the message these actions send to those who seek to migrate legally to the U.S.
Barletta concluded the letter by saying, “If it was your decision to allow a flight of illegal immigrants to land on December 17, the citizens of Pennsylvania are entitled to know your rationale for doing so. At the very least, they deserve transparency on an issue that is of such importance to public safety and public health.”
Meanwhile, U.S. Representative Dan Meuser (R-Penn.) wrote to Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas and Acting ICE Director Tae Johnson demanding an explanation for the flight. He said, “I am calling on you and President Biden to immediately end this irresponsible practice in northeast Pennsylvania and throughout the country. The Biden Administration has failed to secure the southern border and encouraged the mass migration that has been occurring for months. It is unconscionable that such policies have proceeded amid a global pandemic, economic crisis, and epidemic drug abuse to which an open border certainly contributes. This mismanagement is now directly impacting the people I represent, and I expect you will provide me the answers I need to address my constituents’ concerns.”
I sent a letter to @DHSgov asking for transparency from the federal government after a recent report that the Biden administration flew illegal immigrants overnight to the Wilkes-Barre Scranton Airport. pic.twitter.com/Hd3Zg1qhR7
— Congressman Dan Meuser (@RepMeuser) December 26, 2021
Pennsylvania has not been the only state to witness these “ghost flights” in recent months. The New York Post reported several such flights landing in the suburbs of New York in October. The White House responded by claiming that all the passengers were minors and that “It is our legal responsibility to safely care for unaccompanied children until they can be swiftly unified with a parent or a vetted sponsor.” Florida Governor Ron DeSantis claimed earlier this month that at least 70 flights have brought illegal immigrants to Jacksonville since this summer, referring to it as a “human smuggling operation.”