The Department of Homeland Security has been secretly flying border crossers into U.S states, especially swing states, but not Biden’s home state of Delaware.
Republican lawmakers in Pennsylvania are drafting a new bill to divert migrants arriving on DHS flights to Democrat Joe Biden’s home state of Delaware, The Washington Times reports.
Governor DeSantis of Florida recommended a similar measure.
Mount Pocono Republican State Sen. Mario Scavello issued a memo to colleagues asking them to support the upcoming bill.
State Sen. Mario Scavello began drumming up support for a forthcoming bill to answer the “many concerned citizens” who have reached out to his office about the flights.
“The federal government has relocated an unknown number of illegal immigrants to states across the nation, including Pennsylvania, and at the same time they have failed to provide information that ensures the safety of Pennsylvania citizens,” Mr. Scavello, a Republican, wrote in a memo to Senate colleagues earlier this month. “The open-border policy of the president’s administration has created a health crisis as well as a financial crisis, and states across the nation are being forced to pay for the reckless abandonment of the rule of law.”
The legislation would implement a transportation program for the relocation of migrants from the commonwealth to the neighboring state of Delaware, according to Scavello’s memo.
Scavello’s bill would also prohibit state contracts from being issued to any federal contractors working to assist in the Biden administration’s relocation efforts.
The state lawmaker warned the coronavirus pandemic is being “further exacerbated” by the flood of illegal immigrants who are not tested for the virus.
“If the federal government is not willing to provide extra dollars to communities that have experienced increased strain on their healthcare systems, increased number of students in school districts and education costs and other services within our communities, then they shouldn’t be forced to take on more illegal immigrants and the additional financial responsibility,” he said.
Another Pennsylvania Republican, State Sen. Doug Mastriano of Chambersburg, said Thursday he will be co-sponsoring Scavello’s legislation.
“We need to further examine the total number of illegal immigrants being sent to [Pennsylvania] by plane and bus,” said Mastriano, a retired Army colonel who is also running for governor.
“We also need to look at how much this is costing taxpayers and if Governor [Tom] Wolf and Attorney General [Josh] Shapiro were notified of the flights beforehand.”
“As any elected official should know, immigration is a federal matter,” Wolf’s office told the Delaware Valley Journal on the matter on Jan. 3.
“Instead of making this a political PR stunt, their questions are best directed to the federal government.”
Pennsylvania state Sen. Mario Scavello asked, ‘If it is good enough for Pennsylvania, then why not redirect the relocation to Delaware?’
Mastriano’s office on Thursday released a report listing Department of Homeland Security data collectively referenced in an inquiry from Sen. Ron Johnson (R-WI) that tabulated 938 domestic migrant transfer flights accounting for 51,750 non-citizens.
A list of “cities transited” by “ICE air operations” included the state capital of Harrisburg, as well as Newark, Richmond, Albuquerque, Toledo, and Miami.
Pennsylvania drew the attention of immigration hawks in late December after former Rep. Lou Barletta (R-PA) shared photos obtained by Fox News that appeared to show such flights landing in Scranton.
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