The Biden administration has confessed to orchestrating covert flights to bring migrants into the United States, citing concerns over national security vulnerabilities if the flight locations were disclosed.
This revelation came to light through a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) lawsuit, initially reported by Todd Bensman, revealing that Customs and Border Protection (CBP) had greenlit clandestine flights transporting hundreds of thousands of undocumented immigrants from foreign countries to at least 43 American airports between January and December 2023.
The #BidenBorderCrisis is a national security crisis.
“Biden administration ADMITS flying 320,000 migrants secretly into the U.S. to reduce the number of crossings at the border has national security 'vulnerabilities'”https://t.co/IHoTeixq9d
— House Republicans (@HouseGOP) March 5, 2024
The program, a part of President Biden's broader expansion of the CBP One app introduced at the onset of 2023, allowed migrants to apply for asylum directly from their home countries.
One aspect of the app's utilization—directly ferrying migrants into the U.S.—remained relatively unknown until now.
Under this initiative, migrants ineligible for legal entry into the U.S. utilized the CBP One app to request travel authorization and temporary humanitarian release from foreign airports.
Upon arrival in the United States, they received parole release, granting them a two-year stay without legal status but with eligibility for work authorization.
CBP's reluctance to divulge flight locations stems from fears that such disclosures could jeopardize public safety and expose operational vulnerabilities.
The agency's attorneys argue that revealing airport locations could enable nefarious actors to exploit weaknesses in law enforcement efforts aimed at securing U.S. borders.
Critics, notably the Center for Immigration Studies, have raised concerns regarding the legality and transparency of these clandestine flights, urging for greater clarity and oversight.
Despite calls for stricter border protocols, uncertainties persist surrounding the origins of these migrant flights and their potential implications for national security.
Republican lawmakers have been particularly vocal in their criticism, insisting that the southern border remains inadequately secured. They have demanded that the Biden administration implement more stringent measures along the U.S.-Mexico border to address ongoing concerns.
Furthermore, the undisclosed departure locations of these flights have left questions unanswered regarding the precise origins of the migrants. The absence of this crucial information has fueled speculation and added to the complexity of assessing the situation's full scope.
Given the legal and ethical ambiguities surrounding these secretive flights, coupled with concerns about their potential impact on national security, there is growing pressure for increased transparency and accountability from the Biden administration.
