Biden admin pressured airports to shelter illegal immigrants despite safety concerns: Senate Commerce Committee

The 47-page report titled “Flight Risk,” released by the Senate Commerce Committee and obtained by Fox News, claims the Biden administration directed federal transportation agencies, including the Department of Transportation (DOT), Federal Aviation Administration (FAA), Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA), and Federal Transit Administration (FTA), to identify airport facilities that could be converted into temporary shelters or processing centers for illegal immigrant.

According to the report, the Biden administration instructed the DOT and FAA to “inventory available facilities” at both federally operated and local airports and to divert federal resources to support housing illegal immigrants.

Internal emails obtained by the committee include one from October 6, 2023, in which an FAA official wrote to Massport, which operates Boston Logan International Airport: “We have received a request from the WH to determine if there are available facilities on airport or surrounding areas… This is an immediate ask so please prioritize this effort.”

A DOT staff member replied, “Yikes, this is definitely Fox News fodder in the making.”

The committee reported that at least 11 airports, including Chicago O’Hare and New York’s JFK, were contacted, sometimes repeatedly, about housing illegal immigrants inside terminals, hangars, or auxiliary buildings.

FAA officials allegedly acknowledged that the actions would violate federal grant-assurance rules, which restrict non-aviation activities at airports, but the agency “ignored them most of the time,” the report stated.

Massport cautioned federal officials that Logan Airport was not equipped to intake or manage large migrant populations: “We are not designed or resourced to manage the intake of migrant populations… this would create a host of unintended safety and security consequences.”

Despite those warnings, Logan ultimately sheltered as many as 352 illegal immigrants overnight in Terminal E and spent $779,000 on cleaning, security, and transportation, according to the report.

Chicago’s O’Hare International Airport reportedly sheltered up to 900 illegal immigrants in a shuttle terminal between April 2023 and February 2024. During that period, police logged 329 service calls and 26 arrests, including cases of theft, disorderly conduct, and a death investigation. City officials admitted that “asylum seekers [we]re not restricted to the staging area.”

In another incident highlighted by the committee, an Ecuadorian national, Kleber Loor-Ponce, breached a security post at JFK Airport and ran toward two active runways. When apprehended, he was carrying a box cutter and scissors, raising further concerns about passenger and airport worker safety.

Beyond airports, the report alleges the administration tasked transportation agencies with additional migrant-related duties, including helping to develop a “Know Your Rights” pamphlet for bus passengers and coordinating with states tracking bus companies transporting migrants and encouraging local transit agencies to use federal transit grants to support migrant transportation.

The committee argues these actions amount to a “dangerous diversion” of federal transportation resources that should have been focused on aviation safety and infrastructure.

Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX), the ranking member of the Senate Commerce Committee, said in a statement to Fox News that the report shows the Biden administration used transportation agencies to advance immigration policies at the expense of public safety.

“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.”

Cruz added, “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 co-opted government agencies to put American citizens at risk.”