EYEWITNESS NEWS (WBRE/WYOU) — Two congressmen from the area say they will introduce legislation this week calling for transparency with federally chartered immigrant flights across the country.
Lawmakers say recent flights to Northeastern Pennsylvania have led to this legislation.
Congressmen Dan Meuser and Fred Keller say they are unhappy with the answers they are getting from federal authorities about the local flights.
As well as the whole process now put in place for immigrant flights across the country
“The American people are paying for this. It’s all tax money. I think the American people have a right to know that,” said Representative Meuser.
Congressman Dan Meuser talks about federally chartered flights with passengers overseen by federal agencies, such as:
- Namely, the United States Department of Health and Human Services.
- Four immigrant flights landed at Wilkes-Barre-Scranton International Airport in December.
- The first two were diverted to Luzerne County.
- The second two flights, on December 25, were actually supposed to land at the airport.
- But local officials say they had a hard time getting information about the flights, such as who was on board and their final destinations.
- The I-Team confirmed at the time that the flights were federally chartered and were carrying children and teenagers, who were being resettled in the United States.
- We also confirmed that they have not been resettled in northeastern Pennsylvania.
U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) officials told Eyewitness News at the time that they were unaccompanied children and were being sent to relatives or vetted sponsors.
HHS told the I-Team they could not release additional information due to privacy and safety concerns for the children. Congressman Dan Meuser and Fred Keller will introduce a bill titled “The Immigration Transparency and Transit Notification Act.” They say it will tackle all federally sponsored charter flights across the country.
“I am introducing legislation requiring governors and all relevant elected officials to be notified of illegal aliens being posted to their regions, also requiring quarterly reports notifying you of the data coming in and where they were going” , said Representative Meuser.
Meuser says the legislation also aims to potentially provide assistance to immigrants, especially children.
“We’re not looking for addresses, but let’s face it, we could really help if the Luzerne County Children Services knew there were adolescents or even younger people coming in,” said Representative Meuser.
Tim McGinley, a Wilkes-Barre/Scranton International Airport board member, made a statement to Eyewitness News about the proposed legislation and the flights that sparked questions in December:
“Many of the concerns and issues raised could have been eliminated with a press release from HHS explaining the program’s goals.”
Congressman Matt Cartwright tells Eyewitness News that he has not yet seen the bill and is looking forward to reviewing it. We have reached out to HHS officials for comment and have not heard anything yet.