The National Pulse – by Raheem J. Kassam, Kay Smythe
Chartered jets carrying mostly minor-age, illegal immigrants into Scranton, Pennsylvania have attracted the attention of leading conservative lawmakers in the state, The National Pulse can reveal.
Congressman Dan Meuser as well as gubernatorial candidate Lou Barletta have urged immigration authorities as well as Governor Tom Wolf to explain what one source told The National Pulse were “ghost flights” into Scranton International Airport over the course of December.
The term “ghost flight” was used to describe the secretive nature of the flights, some of which arrived at night, without passenger manifests being made available.
Beginning on December 11th and set to conclude on December 30th, hundreds of what are believed to be underage, illegal immigrants have been flown into the Pennsylvania by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE).
The flights are believed to have originated in Texas, with some stopping in Cincinnati, according to Jim Gallagher, president of Aviation Technologies Inc., the airport’s fixed-base operator.
FlightAware screenshot shows a flight from El Paso to Wilkes-Barre Scranton on Dec. 17.
Charter company iAero Airways contracts with U.S. Immigration & Customs Enforcement.
Did @GovernorTomWolf & @JoshShapiroPA accept a flight of illegal immigrants while keeping it secret? pic.twitter.com/CQ9AycP8g4
— Tim Murtaugh (@TimMurtaugh) December 26, 2021
Gallagher told local news outlets that he saw mostly young people who did not speak English disembark from the planes and get on buses parked near the airport hangars.
KaiserAir, iAero and World Atlantic Airlines handled the flights, which Gallagher called “ICE flights.”
“We don’t know their status,” Gallagher added. “It seems that all of the vetting should take place at the border, but it appears that there isn’t much transparency there. More information needs to be provided. There needs to be more control.”
In a letter to ICE director Tae Johnson and Homeland Security secretary Alejandro Mayorkas, Rep. Meuser demanded answers:
“It is my understanding that a total of 130 immigrants, 118 minors and 12 adults, arrived aboard an iAero charter flight on Friday, Dec. 17, and were subsequently transported on buses from a private hangar… This flight seems to have occurred without airport officials receiving notice or a passenger manifest.”
Flights arrived on the 11th, 17th, with two on Christmas Day (the 25th) and another expected on December 30th.
“The lack of communication and transparency surrounding this process is unacceptable,” Meuser said. “Your agency failed to notify me or any other local officials of these activities, leaving us unable to answer the concerns of constituents in the communities we represent. Pennsylvanians deserve to know about these decisions affecting their community,”
He concluded:
“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.”
Barletta penned his own letter which stated:
“I asked Gov. Wolf and Attorney General Shapiro a series of straightforward questions about these flights, and they haven’t provided any answers,” Barletta said. “Now we see evidence of more flights on Christmas night, and people want to know if illegal immigrants are being transported to our community, whether they’ve undergone background checks and health screenings, and why no one was notified that this was happening.”
Since the start of the Biden regime, the U.S. has seen record numbers of unaccompanied children crossing the border illegally. Many of these children are held in facilities for an average of 107 hours. Federal law permits authorities to hold illegal immigrants for 72 hours.