From Chicago O'Hare to JFK, the Biden Administration allegedly forced airports to house hundreds of illegal immigrants

At least 11 airports reportedly received pressure to house illegal immigrants during the Joe Biden administration. That's according to a new report from the Senate Commerce Committee, which claims the measure put operations at risk and diverted resources intended for transportation.

Titled Flight Risk, and distributed exclusively by Fox News, the report claims that the White House ordered multiple agencies, such as the Department of Transportation (DOT) and the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA), to provide space at various airports to be used as a shelter or processing center.

After taking an inventory, the DOT and FAA were, according to the committee, to "divert federal resources" to fund the new function.

The list of airports that received indications to receive undocumented immigrants would include John F. Kennedy International Airport, in New York, Chicago-O'Hare International Airport and Boston's Logan International Airport.

"The Biden-Harris administration made airports and aviation less secure by allowing and encouraging aliens to shelter at U.S. airports, by allowing improperly vetted aliens to fly into and throughout the United States, and by diverting needed federal air marshals to the border," the report asserts.

Staff Concerns

Transportation personnel reportedly expressed concern. The Massachusetts Port Authority (Massport), the state operator, reportedly warned the feds, "We are not designed or resourced to manage the intake of migrant populations… this would create a host of unintended safety and security consequences."

However, one of the airports managed by Massport, Boston's Logan, reportedly housed more than 300 migrants in its Terminal E. An operation that ran up a cost of $779,000.

In a mail exchange in 2023, a DOT official reportedly responded to the FAA's request to Massport to "prioritize" finding slots to obey the new policy, "Yikes, this is definitely Fox News fodder in the making."

Moreover, according to the report some Federal Aviation Administration officials recognized that such use of the money required new grant approval. The FAA, however, reportedly received orders to "remind local transit agencies that federal grants could be used to move migrants." Redirection of funds that the Commerce Committee described as a "dangerous diversion."

JFK airport reportedly even suffered a security breach: a man allegedly ran past a security checkpoint, entering the restricted area, heading towards two runways, with a box cutter and a pair of scissors. He was arrested and identified as Kleber Loor-Ponce, from Ecuador.

From the airport to the cities

Federal agencies were also reportedly directed to assist in other illegal immigration-related tasks, including participating in the subsequent transport to other parts of the country.

The Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA), under the DOT, was instructed to prepare a pamphlet for passengers with their rights on U.S. soil. It would also have been ordered to coordinate with the bus companies that then transported the immigrants.

"This report exposes how the Biden Department of Transportation conspired with local leaders in New York, Boston, and Chicago to house migrants in airport facilities at taxpayer expense," Sen. Ted Cruz, chairman of the committee behind the report, argued in a statement to Fox News.

"Their decisions—to transport illegal aliens through airports without identity checks, even those with felonies—shows in new detail how Biden’s open border policy coopted government agencies to put American citizens at risk," he added.