‘This seems clandestine’: NY mayor rips into Biden after dozens of migrant kids secretly flown to small town
An upstate New York mayor ripped into President Biden and his team after dozens of migrants kids were secretly flown to his small town by the feds last week, telling The Post: “This seems clandestine.”
At least two migrant flights have touched down at Orange County Airport in Montgomery from El Paso, Texas in recent weeks, according to officials.
The latest flight, which landed last Friday night, was carrying 25 minors ranging between 13 and 18 years of age, who were quickly shipped off to 12 locations, including children’s homes and shelters, scattered across the tri state and New York City suburban areas.
“They were transported out of the county once they got here,” Montgomery Village Mayor Steve Brescia told The Post Tuesday.
“We were never informed about any flights coming into the airport. It’s just disturbing we weren’t informed of any of this,” he continued. “We’re worried about the safety of the passengers who didn’t know where they were going.”
He added: “This seems clandestine.”
Last week’s flight was arranged by the Biden administration’s Office of Refugee Resettlement (ORR) — which falls under the Department of Health and Human Services, according to Montgomery County’s Deputy Police Chief Paul Arteta.
Meanwhile, a number of adults acting as chaperones for the minors had been contracted by MVM — a controversial Virginia-based private security firm that works for the US government, Arteta added.
The Biden administration has come under fire of late for orchestrating a slew of secret migrant flights — despite publicly shaming Republican governors, including Texas’ Greg Abbott and Florida’s Ron DeSantis, for shipping migrants to various Democratic-run cities.
It comes after an initial migrant flight touched down at Orange County Airport on Sept. 16, but it wasn’t immediately clear how many migrants were on board that aircraft.
Both the Sept. 16 and Sept. 30 flights came from El Paso and were registered to the same company, Freight Runners Express, according to flight logs.
Local officials and cops were only made aware of the flights when someone at the airport reported “suspicious” activity after the minors were spotted filing off the plane and getting into a waiting bus and van last Friday.
Police quickly intercepted the bus as it left the airport to question the chaperones and migrant kids, who hailed from Honduras, Ecuador, Guatemala, El Salvador and Nicaragua.
“Our initial call stated the witness thought he heard one of the children say they were here against their will, so that was our main concern — taking care of the children and finding out where they came from,” Arteta said.
He said the adults had a file on them that contained the flight plan and paperwork on each child, including their names, birth date, country of origin and where they were headed.
The file showed the minors were being shipped off to a dozen different shelters, children’s homes and “vetted sponsors” across New York, New Jersey and Connecticut.
As they were being questioned, Arteta said the contractors were initially hesitant to offer up any information on what they were doing or who had instructed them to do it.
“They were very, very reluctant to say anything to us,” Arteta said, adding that none of them had “any federal ID.”
“Once we got in contact with some of the federal agencies we got a bit more information and they opened up. We found out ORR was the main agency handling this,” he continued.
“Once we got in touch with ORR, they explained that’s not the way it should go down and if they bump into law enforcement, they should explain what they’re doing.”
After finally getting to the bottom of the ordeal, Arteta said authorities and local officials made sure the exhausted kids were fed and had some toiletries.
“Taking them 2,000 or 3,000 miles further away from where they originated is just terrible,” Arteta said. “They knew they were going to be helped in some way but they had absolutely no clue what was going on.”
“These kids should be reunited with their parents. Never mind all the politics, they should be with their parents,” Arteta added.
The deputy police chief said he wasn’t aware if more migrant flights were expected in the coming weeks.
“I don’t know if there will be more. Orange County is an open airport, so it’s not like they have to check in to land,” he said. “This may be used for a period of time then maybe they move to a different airport.”
Among the locations the migrant kids were taken to last Friday was the Catholic Guardian Services in the Bronx and the Children’s Village Shelter in Westchester County.
Some were also bused to the Children’s Home of Kingston in Ulster County and the Center for Family Services in Northfield, New Jersey.
Neighbors who live near the Bronx’s Catholic Guardian Services shelter said they’ve spotted kids and teenagers playing outside of late.
“Every day they are outside and they play football,” Miguel Lopez, 56, told The Post.
“They are real nice and courteous to people,” Mike Dixson, who has lived on the block for 40 years, added.
A local woman, who only gave her name as Bee, said children started arriving at the home this past summer.
“Just one day I saw a bunch of kids playing out front,” she said, adding that she has never had any “trouble” with them.
