New York State Insider: Election 2022 Desk: Astorino: Hochul Has Power to Demand I.D. Checks on Secretive Undocumented Immigrant Flights.

 

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: ASTORINO: HOCHUL HAS POWER TO DEMAND I.D. CHECKS ON SECRETIVE UNDOCUMENTED IMMIGRANT FLIGHTS INTO NEW YORK. 

Asks, “Why is Governor Ignoring Common Sense Safety Measure?”

 

New York-Apr. 27…Republican gubernatorial candidate Rob Astorino, the former two-term Westchester County Executive, today called on Governor Kathy Hochul to use powers granted to her under a 1951 law (Executive Law, Section 8) to determine the identities of undocumented immigrants being secretively flown into New York by the Biden Adminstration. 

 

Mr. Astorino first exposed these secretive flights in August 2021 — many of them arrive in the dead of night — and he wrote to President Biden in February demanding to know flight details, including passenger manifests. Mr. Biden never responded. 

 

Mr. Astorino has repeatedly called on Governor Hochul to get answers from the Biden Administration, yet she has remained virtually silent on the issue. Mrs. Hochul did, however, add $2.1 billion in cash grants for illegal immigrants living in New York communities in last year’s state budget, effectively encouraging more illegal border crossings and resettlements into New York, Mr. Astorino charged.  

 

The flights are typically met by buses which transport the passengers into communities throughout New York State, which are given little or no information about who’s arriving. These communities then have to scramble to accommodate the new immigrants. 

 

“It’s Governor Hochul’s responsibility to know who’s on these flights, yet she’s refusing to use her powers to find out,” Mr. Astorino said. “New Yorkers have a right to know who’s being flown in, and taxpayers should be informed about the scope of this secretive relocation program. Government is supposed to be accountable to its citizens — even in New York.”