Former Westchester County Executive Rob Astorino, who is running for the Republican nomination for New York governor, on June 8 went to Stewart Airport in New Windsor and called for an end to clandestine flights by the federal government bringing what he described as illegal immigrants into the area.
Astorino said the federal government now has added flights into Stewart to other nighttime flights that have operated into Westchester County Airport carrying illegal immigrants from the southern U.S. border.
Astorino said he was aware of flights from EL Paso, Texas, on aircraft operated by Omni Air International carrying illegal immigrants. He said that after arrival in New York, the immigrants are dispersed into various communities and even taken to rest areas on the New Jersey turnpike where vehicles are waiting to take them to other destinations. He identified some of the Omni Air operations by flight number.
”The flights are accelerating, there is no question about that,” Astorino said. “We have video. It”™s not just little kids with backpacks being reunified with their families.”
Astorino said that he had been tipped to recent flights by residents near Stewart and that his associates documented at least five flights.
He said the passengers seen deplaning include single adult men who are put onto buses. He said the buses have then been seen driving from Stewart Airport to the nearby New York State Thruway.
Astorino said that he has written to President Biden asking for an explanation of what the federal government has been doing but has received no response. He also said that he has unsuccessfully tried to get information from New York Governor Kathy Hochul, who he likely would be running against should he get the GOP nomination.
“Our taxpayers are footing the bill for all of this and yet we are getting no information whatsoever from our own federal government or state government,” Astorino said.