The border crisis has unfortunately carried on into 2022, and the Biden administration is dragging non-border states along with it.
Five flights reportedly carrying mostly underage migrants from the Texas border were flown into Wilkes-Barre Scranton International Airport and Lehigh Valley International Airport in Pennsylvania, at the end of December, WFMZ-TV reported.
Although it’s clear that these flights were organized by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, there is furious debate over whether or not they were intended to be secretive.
Republican Pennsylvania gubernatorial candidate Lou Barletta alleged that flights were moved from Wilkes-Barre Scranton to Lehigh Valley in order to keep them low-key.
“The incredible secrecy and disregard for Pennsylvanians continues,” Barletta said in a press release. “First, we had to discover for ourselves that illegal immigrants were being shipped into Northeast Pennsylvania on at least four flights.”
“But then when people demanded information, the flights were shifted to the Lehigh Valley and they just hoped no one would notice. While the Biden administration is playing games with the safety of Pennsylvanians, Gov. Tom Wolf and Attorney General Josh Shapiro are just throwing up their hands and saying it’s not their problem.”
Furthermore, the press release suggested that there were four flights in total so far to Wilkes-Barre Scranton on Dec. 11, Dec. 17, and twice on Christmas night.
Barletta’s letter to Wolf, a Democrat, and Shapiro revealed that at least one of the flights landed at 10:17 pm.
The campaign also showed a screenshot from FlightAware that showed a World Atlantic Airlines charter flight that flew from El Paso, Texas, to Allentown, Pennsylvania (Lehigh Valley) on Thursday, Dec. 30 in the afternoon.
“I am extremely concerned by recent reports that the federal government has flown illegal immigrants to the Wilkes Barre-Scranton International Airport,” Republican Pennsylvania Rep. Dan Meuser wrote in a letter, the New York Post reported.
“It is my understanding that a total of 130 immigrants, 118 minors and 12 adults, arrived aboard an iAero charter flight on Friday, December 17 and were subsequently transported on buses from a private hangar.”
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
However, not everyone is convinced that these flights are cause for concern.
Democratic Congressman Matt Cartwright said that the flights were intended to unite people with “their parents or approved sponsors,” and that the federal government never kept the practice quiet, according to WFMZ-TV.
If the lack of transparency of these flights is any indication, the federal government needs to improve its communication with local lawmakers and authorities to advise them they are going to see an influx of refugees.
As for the border crisis as a whole, there appears to be no end in sight, as the Biden administration has taken minimal action nearly a year after it began.
Instead, they appear content with putting a strain on the Border Patrol and other federal government resources.
This article appeared originally on The Western Journal.
