Miss. Senators question DHS Secretary on reports of overnight flights
On Thursday, U.S. Senators Roger Wicker (R-MS) and Cindy Hyde-Smith (R-MS) joined 13 Senators in signing a letter to Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas to explain reports that ICE is processing large groups of single adult illegal immigrants at makeshift borders and loading them onto planes to be shuttled into communities across America.
“In light of the public reporting around “midnight flights” of illegal immigrants, we request a full accounting of your Department’s activities so that we can understand the scope of this challenge. We are concerned that the use of these midnight flights by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) is intended to obfuscate the Administration’s failure to secure our borders and protect hardworking, law-abiding Americans,” the lawmakers wrote.
“These reports of illegal immigrants being released into the country are also perplexing due to the fact that the Supreme Court directed the Biden Administration to reinstate the “Remain in Mexico policy started under the previous administration,” wrote the Senators. “Under this policy, illegal immigrants are required to wait in Mexico while their asylum claims are adjudicated rather than being released into the United States.”
“We are alarmed by the reports of mass release of criminal illegal immigrants into our communities under the cover of darkness. The American people deserve answers to why their taxpayer dollars are being used to fly illegal immigrants across the country to be released into our backyards. Public safety and national security are on the line,” the Senators concluded.
Click here to read the full letter.
Senator Hyde-Smith stated on Twitter that it is “deeply troubling that, at a time Americans struggle with inflation, their taxpayer dollars are used to relocate illegal immigrants across the country, resulting in a mass release of criminal illegal immigrants into our communities.”
Deeply troubling that, at a time Americans struggle with inflation, their taxpayer dollars are used to relocate illegal immigrants across the country, resulting in a mass release of criminal illegal immigrants into our communities. We're demanding answers from @SecMayorkas.
— U.S. Senator Cindy Hyde-Smith (@SenHydeSmith) February 4, 2022
“Reports of illegal immigrant flights from the border to locations across the country are deeply concerning,” Senator Wicker said.
Wicker said that he joined his colleges on the letter to the Department of Homeland Security, “in order to demand full account of these activities.”
Reports of illegal immigrant flights from the border to locations across the country are deeply concerning. I joined @SenHydeSmith and @SenThomTillis on a letter to @DHS demanding a full account of these activities.https://t.co/jXj6UdcEQx
— Senator Roger Wicker (@SenatorWicker) February 4, 2022
Anne Summerhays
