Conservatives have spent over three months accusing the federal government of secretly flying illegal immigrants from border states to other parts of the country under the cover of night, and have now obtained leaked bodycam footage appearing to confirm their concerns.
The police bodycam video, obtained under a freedom of information request by Rob Astorino, a former Westchester County executive and Republican candidate for New York governor, shows what is estimated to be about 100 migrants getting off a charter flight at the Westchester Airport and boarding busses whisking them off in an unknown direction.
“We don’t tell them where we’re going. Like I said, a lot of this is just, down low stuff that we don’t tell people, because what we don’t want to do is attract attention,” a voice off camera is heard telling Sergeant Michael Hamborsky, the officer wearing the bodycam. “We don’t want the media. Like we don’t even know where we’re going when they tell us,” the person says.
“I get the whole secrecy and all this s***, but this is even above my f***ing paygrade, you know what I mean?” another individual tells the police officer. Asked why the flights are wrapped in such secrecy, the man quips, “Because like, look who’s in office. That’s why, come on.”
“Because if it gets out, the government is betraying the American people,” the man says.
Other excerpts of the footage, said to consist of 51 minutes total and to have been filmed on 13 August 2021, were obtained by the New York Post and Fox News. The flights to Westchester were said to have started in August and continued until October until their existence was reported by the media last fall.
In the clip shared by the Post, Hamborsky is told that the flight was chartered by the Department of Homeland Security and the US Army, “but DHS wants everything on the down-low.”
The police officer asked some of the flight crew to show their ID. One contractor is heard telling him: “My name is – I like to comply, you know what I’m saying? I comply. Technically, we’re not supposed to show IDs or anything like that. Like I said, everything’s supposed to be hush-hush. But you know what, if I show you my ID and I’m upfront with you, the next time you see me [you’ll say] ‘Hey, I know who he is.'”
“And if you don’t, I can just not let you out,” the officer quips.
Another contractor tells the officer he can’t show him his work ID, but can give him a state ID.
In another exchange, Hamborsky asks a contractor why the plane was in Westchester, rather than some larger capacity airport. “You don’t want to be in somewhere the spotlight is,” a man tells him.
According to the Post, the US national chaperones aboard the plane were employees of MVM, a private security company that worked for the CIA and the NSA in Iraq, and which received a $136 million contract in 2021 to shuttle migrants across the US.
Border Crisis
Data from the US Customs and Border Protection released Monday showed that CBP officers encountered over two million would-be illegal immigrants in 2021.
Republicans, independents and even some Democrats have blamed the Biden administration for the crisis, with critics citing the president’s move to scuttle his predecessor’s hardline immigration policy and suggestions that the estimated 11 million illegals already living in the country may be granted a path to citizenship.
Observers have warned that along with new migrants comes crime – including organized human and drug smuggling by Mexican cartels.
On his programme Wednesday, Fox News host Tucker Carlson blasted Washington for seemingly directing its attention and resources to the frontier between Ukraine and Russia while ignoring the border crisis at home.