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Led by former County Executive and gubernatorial hopeful Rob Astorino, who first broke the news on Friday, Aug. 13, word of undocumented immigrants being flown into the region spread like wildfire with speculation racing.
“Hundreds of undocumented immigrants from (the) crisis at (the) border flown in on several nights,” Astorino tweeted. “Why was this a secret? Where are they being resettled? Who is paying? Have they been tested for COVID?”
Current Westchester County Executive George Latimer confirmed that the US Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) has been authorizing inbound flights into the airport without making it publicly known.
The flights are part of a national operation to reunite minors who had been separated from their families. In total, it has been estimated that hundreds of immigrants have been flown into Westchester during late-night flights.
Latimer said that the HHS operation was part of President Joe Biden’s Office of Refugee Resettlement operation, and not specific to Westchester, as his administration attempts to reunite children under the age of 18 with their families.
The immigrants were taken from private flights and placed on buses, with anyone eligible to receive a COVID-19 vaccine getting one. It is not clear how many flights have come into Westchester.
Astorino, a Republican, held a press briefing on the matter outside the airport on Monday, Aug. 16, and has been sharing photos and videos of planes that flew in the immigrants.
Assemblyman Colin Schmitt (R - New Windsor) also issued a statement of his own condemning the flights while taking a shot at Democrat leaders.
“It has been confirmed that the Biden Administration has been sending flights carrying illegal aliens who were detained crossing our southern border to the Westchester County Airport,” he wrote in an email blast. “This occurred without notice to the public or county officials.
“As a Member of Congress representing Westchester County and the Hudson Valley in the US House of Representatives, Sean Patrick Maloney allowed this to happen and concealed it from his own constituents,” he continued.
“This is fundamentally wrong and sending these detainees to be released in our communities during the COVID-19 pandemic represents a clear threat to the health and safety of our region.”
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