Slow Motion Invasion Update: Biden Admin "secret" flights
NC Rep. Richard Hudson tweeted about the Biden admin secretly flying "hundreds of thousands" of illegal migrants to cities in the U.S. interior
NC Congressman Richard Hudson posted on X this week that the Biden administration was running a “Trojan Horse invasion operation” through the use of “secret” flights sending illegal migrants to cities across the country.
What's Hudson referring to?
A recent NY Post article by Todd Bensman, a senior national security fellow at the Center for Immigration Studies (CIS), lays out the issue. The article starts with the mention that Texas has bused migrants to New York City and then gets into the flights:
A new report from me and my organization, the Center for Immigration Studies, finds that the Department of Homeland Security secretly has okayed the flights of some 33,000 illegal immigrants directly to the New York region from foreign airports. That’s 22% of the city’s migrant influx.
One of Biden’s flying immigrants was a Haitian man, Cory Alvarez, who was recently accused of raping a developmentally disabled teen girl. The administration reportedly authorized him to fly directly from Haiti into John F. Kennedy International Airport as part of the immigrant flights program.
To summarize CIS’ report linked in Bensman’s article, the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), under President Joe Biden, implemented a program allowing certain inadmissible aliens to fly directly into the United States from abroad to "reduce" unlawful border crossings. In other words, it’s sort of an end run around border statistics for illegal entry.
At least 386,000 migrants, primarily from Venezuela, Cuba, Haiti, and Nicaragua, have been granted humanitarian parole through this program from Oct. 2022 to Feb. 2024. Florida, particularly Miami, has been the top landing and processing zone for these flights, with nearly 326,000 arrivals.
Other significant arrival destinations include Houston, New York, Los Angeles, San Francisco, Atlanta, Boston, Baltimore, and Chicago.
Here are the key stats in the report:
At least 386,000 migrants granted humanitarian parole from October 2022 to February 2024.
Nearly 326,000 arrivals processed through Miami, Florida.
Approximately 21,964 arrivals processed through Houston, Texas.
Other significant arrival numbers include 33,408 in New York, 8,382 in Los Angeles, and 4,578 in San Francisco.
Spike in Miami arrivals from 3,508 in FY 2022 to 186,722 in FY 2023.
The program, though secretive, has drawn attention due to its impact on local communities, strained by the influx of migrants.
Republican governors in Florida and Texas, as well as Democratic city leaders in affected areas, have not yet publicly addressed the program's contribution to local migration issues. One might expect Florida Governor Ron DeSantis, who in January won a court case about Florida flying migrants into Martha’s Vineyard, to take note of the report.
More To The Story
Immigration isn't just a national hot button issue, it's also not a new issue - especially in the last six years in North Carolina.
During the second term of the Obama administration, illegal immigration was a national issue, as were cities and states declaring themselves as so-called "sanctuary cities."
In 2015, Former NC Governor Pat McCrory signed a bill into law that required employers to use E-Verify and restricted what could be used as official identification by illegal migrants and did not include consular documents as an acceptable form of ID and banned adoption of sanctuary city ordinances.
The Protect NC Workers Act (House Bill 318) passed both chambers. No House Democrats voted in favor but a single senator did vote for it: Josh Stein.
The following year, Stein ran for Attorney General.
House Bill 318 took effect in October 2015, yet certain cities and counties have basically ignored it since the law has no consequences for violation included in the language.
Per CIS' data, in North Carolina, six counties have been considered as "sanctuary" jurisdictions for refusing to cooperate with ICE or ordinances shielding illegal immigrants in some manner: Buncombe County, Durham County, Forsyth County, Mecklenburg County, Orange County, Wake County.
In 2019, McCrory shamed Governor Roy Cooper and certain city officials while on his WBT radio show following a press release issued by ICE detailing how Mecklenburg Sheriff Garry McFadden did not inform ICE of an arrest of a subject accused of raping a child and did not honor the detainer on the suspect.
The suspect in question was Oscar Pacheco-Leonardo, a 33-year-old Honduran national, who was charged with first-degree rape and two counts of indecent liberties with a child. He had illegally reentered the U.S. after previously being deported.
The incident with Pacheco-Leonardo fueled the push to pass House Bill 370, Require Cooperation with ICE Detainers, which had been filed back in March 2019. Among the primary sponsors was Rep. Destin Hall (R-Lenoir), who would go on to file a similar bill in 2023.
Cooper vetoed House Bill 370 the day after it was presented to him. In his lengthy veto message, he began by saying the bill was about "scoring political points."
With no supermajority to override the veto, the bill was never brought up for an override vote.
In the fall of 2020, ICE launched a billboard campaign in the Charlotte area warning of the dangers of sanctuary policies and failing to cooperate with ICE detainers. The campaign included examples of violent illegal offenders released by McFadden due to his refusal to honor ICE detainers.
During the 2021-22 legislative session, lawmakers passed Senate Bill 101, titled "Require cooperation with ICE 2.0." Cooper waited up until the last minute to veto it. In that veto message, the governor recycled his previous veto message, stating that the bill was for "scoring political points."
Following Cooper's veto of Senate Bill 101, U.S. Senator Thom Tillis issued a statement that said, in part, "Gov. Cooper has effectively declared North Carolina a sanctuary state."
During the 2023 session, a bill to require sheriffs to cooperate with ICE detainers was introduced by Rep. Destin Hall (R-Lenoir).
House Bill 10 passed the House but did not advance to a Senate vote. Only two House Democrats voted in favor; Reps. Michael Wray and Cecil Brockman. Both of them were primaried this year with Wray losing his seat and Brockman narrowly hanging onto his.
Sources tell me that an Immigrant/ICE cooperation bill will see a revival in the upcoming General Assembly short session.
A Little More To The Story
The News and Observer dropped a story about the possibility of an ICE cooperation bill showing up in the short session.
N&O’s article points to WRAL's March Poll with regard to the topic being a big deal in NC as well as the big shift in Democrat positions on illegal immigration:
Forty-six percent of adults statewide say they want to stop all crossings through the southern border. Another 32% say the federal government should take steps to reduce immigration from Central America and South America, but not go as far as a total shutdown. Just 12% said they think immigration policy should remain the same or be made less strict.
Further down, WRAL's report says Democrats want stricter border policies:
But when pressed on the issue, Democrats tended to agree with Republicans that stronger border security is needed, according to results released Thursday. The new results show 87% of Republicans said immigration across the southern border should be reduced or totally shut down, as did 71% of Democrats and 77% of unaffiliated voters.
Included in that write up were the positions held by both party candidates running for North Carolina governor, Mark Robinson (R) and Josh Stein (D), and those running for state attorney general, Dan Bishop (R) and Jeff Jackson(D).
In reading their statements, some of which were issued by campaign staff and not directly by the candidate, bear in mind Lt. Gov. Robinson has an outstanding request to the Biden administration for answers about an illegal migrant on the terror watchlist being apprehended in North Carolina. Stein’s activity includes wanting fentanyl sensors installed on border patrol vehicles.
Jackson and Bishop are both still in Congress right now, but Bishop has been the one with a front row seat, sitting on the Homeland Security Committee’s Border Security, Facilitation, & Operations subcommittee as well as the Border Security Caucus.
Related Reading:
DHS Sec. Mayorkas faces Senate Committee over dept. budget.
Mayorkas takes heat from GOP in hearings on DHS budget, border - ABC News
Mayorkas Admits Border ‘Crisis’ to Congress for First Time - National Review
‘Why Are You Filibustering?’: Mayorkas Stumbles Over Answer When Asked What Powers He Lacks to Enforce Border - Daily Signal