More than 2,000 migrant children have been flown to New York since June, landing at Westchester County Airport in White Plains, and many in the area say the Biden administration has failed to answer questions regarding what is going to happen to them next.
Two senior U.S. officials confirmed that flights to the New York area have increased as the number of migrants — minors in many cases — coming to the country's southern border have greatly increased this year. The officials told NBC New York that the numbers arriving in the U.S. are the largest in 15 years.
"It is our legal responsibility to safely care for unaccompanied children until they can be swiftly unified with a parent or vetted sponsor," said White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki.
But there are calls from both sides of the political aisle for the administration to provide more information about the children being transported, who is monitoring them and what should happen to them afterward.
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Former Westchester County Executive and current New York gubernatorial hopeful Rob Astorino said that the children have been pouring into the area on flights chartered by the federal government, and is demanding answers.
"We have no answers abut basic questions like: Who is coming here? Where are they being settled, or taken to? What is their vaccination status?" Astorino asked on Tuesday. He has been raising questions regarding the arriving flights since August, and says he has gotten little in terms of feedback.
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"These flights have been landing in Westchester since April. At the time, there were smaller planes. From August, maybe even July, these are big flights, these are 737's," Astorino said. "This has everything to do with our own government not giving people information that effects their lives."
Astorino said he took video of people deplaning one of the flights himself, to document the influx of so-called unaccompanied minors.
Even Democrats said the lack of information is a problem that needs to be addressed.
"We need information from the administration. Where are they sending these kids? So that the school districts can be prepared for the influx of kids, and then we need to get them money," said U.S. Rep. Tom Suozzi. "I am just angry and frustrated."
Suozzi said that 2,500 minors have been moved to Queens and Long Island alone, with 50 being housed at a facility in Syosset.
Republican Congressman Lee Zeldin took the criticism a step further saying "the shadiness and lack of transparency from the Biden administration is completely unacceptable."
A spokesperson for current Westchester County Executive George Latimer said that the immigrants are either vaccinated or tested before arriving.
