The Biden administration has come under scrutiny following claims that it exerted pressure on U.S. airports to accommodate migrants, raising concerns about potential safety risks for travelers, according to a revealing Senate report.
The 47-page report, titled “Flight Risk,” published by the Senate Commerce Committee, asserts that the White House instructed the Department of Transportation (DOT), the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA), the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA), and the Federal Transit Administration (FTA) to identify airport facilities suitable for use as shelters or processing centers for migrants.
As detailed in the report, the administration tasked the DOT and FAA with compiling an “inventory of available facilities” at both federally owned and local airports, and suggested “diverting federal resources” to facilitate the arrival of migrants.
Travelers at O’Hare International Airport (ORD) in Chicago, Illinois, on Monday, December 23, 2024. The Transportation Security Administration (TSA) expects to screen 40 million passengers this holiday season. Photographer: Vincent Alban/Bloomberg via Getty Images.
The report references internal emails revealing staff apprehensions. On October 6, 2023, an FAA official communicated with Massport, stating:
“We have received a request from the White House to identify any available facilities at or near the airport. This is an urgent task, so please prioritize this effort.”
Another DOT staffer responded candidly: “Yikes, this is definitely Fox News fodder in the making.”
The committee found that at least 11 airports, including Boston Logan, Chicago O’Hare, and New York’s JFK, were asked or even pressured to house migrants inside terminals, hangars, or auxiliary buildings.
A sign marks the entrance to the FAA headquarters in Washington DC on October 7, 2024. (J. David Ake/Getty Images)
FAA officials, according to the report, recognized that such use would usually need federal approval under grant-assurance rules.
Instead, they “ignored them most of the time when airports used their facilities to house aliens,” per the report.
Massport, which operates Boston Logan, warned federal counterparts: “We are not designed or resourced to manage the intake of migrant populations… this would create a host of unintended safety and security consequences.”
Despite that warning, the report says Logan hosted up to 352 migrants overnight in Terminal E, spending $779,000 on security, cleaning, and transportation.
International terminal, train, and control tower at New York’s John F. Kennedy Airport (Skyhobo via Getty Images)
At Chicago’s O’Hare Airport, as many as 900 migrants were sheltered in a shuttle terminal.
Between April 2023 and February 2024, the report says police logged 329 service calls and 26 arrests, including thefts, disorderly conduct, and a death investigation.
Chicago officials acknowledged that “asylum seekers [we]re not restricted to the staging area.”
The report also highlights a 2024 security breach at JFK Airport involving Kleber Loor-Ponce, described as “an alien from Ecuador [who] ran past a security post into ‘the secure area at [JFK],’ toward two runways.”
When apprehended, “Security found him, arrested him, and found a box cutter and pair of scissors on his person.”
This split shows migrants at Boston Logan International Airport and Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas. (Getty)
Beyond airports, DOT and its sub-agencies were allegedly directed to assist in other migrant-support operations.
The FMCSA, the report says, was told to help produce a “Know Your Rights” pamphlet for bus passengers and to coordinate with states tracking bus companies transporting migrants.
The FTA was “encouraged to remind local transit agencies that federal grants could be used to move migrants.”
U.S. President Joe Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris attend the inauguration ceremony of Donald Trumpi in the U.S. Capitol Rotunda on January 20, 2025, in Washington, D.C. ( Saul Loeb – Pool/Getty Images)
The committee concluded that these directives reflected “a dangerous diversion” of federal transportation resources.
“The Biden-Harris administration made airports and aviation less secure,” the report states, “by allowing and encouraging aliens to shelter at U.S. airports, by allowing improperly vetted aliens to fly into and throughout the United States, and by diverting needed federal air marshals to the border,” it said.
In a statement to Fox News Digital, Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas), Chairman of the Senate Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation, said, “This report exposes how the Biden Department of Transportation conspired with local leaders in New York, Boston, and Chicago to house migrants in airport facilities at taxpayer expense.”
“Their decisions – to transport illegal aliens through airports without identity checks, even those with felonies — shows in new detail how Biden’s open border policy coopted government agencies to put American citizens at risk,” Cruz added.
