Since the summer, more than 70 night-time flights transporting illegal migrants from the US southern border have landed in Jacksonville, Florida, The Washington Examiner reported, citing Governor Ron DeSantis' office, which raised concerns about the impact of the border issue on states around the country.
"Over 70 air charter flights [on] jetliner airliners coming from the southwest border have landed at Jacksonville International Airport," Larry Keefe, DeSantis’s public safety czar, is quoted in the report as saying. "On average, there's 36 passengers on each of these flights. And that has been going on over the course of the summer through September."
The Biden administration has reportedly refused to disclose who has arranged the supposed flights and other information.
"We're in a sad situation of trying to run an investigation. Who is facilitating this travel? How are they getting here? Who are the support people? Who are the sponsors?" Keefe asked.
Republicans have been warning about flights into the interior of the country and other migrant transportation into non-border states for months.
Under Trump-era's Title 42 public health provisions, the Biden administration has only removed single persons and a small group of migrant families. Unaccompanied minors are placed in the custody of the Health and Human Services (HHS) before being reunited with sponsors around the country.
Meanwhile, migrant families have been largely released into the US, frequently with a Reminder to Appear or a notice to report to a local Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) office to begin their immigration proceedings.
According to the authorities' current data, in Fiscal Year 2021, there were more than 1.7 million migrant interactions, with more than 192,000 in September alone.
Critics say the Biden administration's policies, such as "catch-and-release," are feeding the influx. The Biden administration has countered with its own explanation for the spike, citing "root causes" in Central America such as violence, corruption, and poverty.
Earlier in the day, Governor DeSantis commented on a report of a 24-year-old Honduran national charged with the murder of a Florida man who took him in, after the migrant allegedly entered the country illegally while posing as an unaccompanied juvenile.
According to DeSantis, the Biden administration's "reckless" border policies contributed to the tragedy that occurred.