Elise: GOP House will probe migrant flights
Upstate Rep. Elise Stefanik has vowed to subpoena the Department of Homeland Security for information about secret flights of migrants into New York state if Republicans regain control of Congress in November’s midterm elections.
“We need to get all data, all information from the Department of Homeland Security, from any federal agency involved in this smuggling operation, this human-trafficking operation paid for by the taxpayers in the dark of night,” Stefanik, the powerful House GOP conference chair, told The Post in an exclusive interview.
The Post revealed last fall that charter flights originating in Texas were landing at Westchester County Airport — usually in the early hours of the morning — to help the federal government offset a crush of migrants at the USMexico border.
The flights were briefly suspended after The Post’s initial exposé, but they had resumed by last month.
Homeland Security mum
“We’ve gotten little to no response from all of our outreach to [Homeland Security] Secretary [Alejandro] Mayorkas,” Stefanik said. “In a Republican majority, you can demand and subpoena those records. We intend to do that.”
After the migrants land in Westchester, they are put on buses and dispersed across the tri-state area. One source told The Post in October that ultimate migrant destinations included locations in the Bronx, Brooklyn, Queens, upstate Newburgh, and Bridgeport and Danbury in Connecticut.
In April, one busload of teenagers tracked by The Post drove the length of the New Jersey Turnpike before letting off its passengers at the Walt Whitman Service Area in Cherry Hill, just across the Delaware River from Philadelphia. After the teens disembarked, they retrieved their bags and left with adults who had been waiting for them.
Similar flights have been reported by officials in Florida, Pennsylvania, and Tennessee.
Eyeing Kat & Cuo, too
Stefanik says she also wants to subpoena Gov. Hochul’s administration for records tied to disgraced ex-Gov. Andrew Cuomo’s coverup of nursing-home deaths from COVID-19.
“I want to go back to the very beginning,” she said, starting from when the infamous “March 25th order” was implemented requiring nursing homes to admit “medically stable” COVID-19 patients discharged from hospitals.
Independent experts estimate at least 1,000 more deaths occurred in long-term care facilities due to to Cuomo’s order. More than 15,000 residents died from the deadly virus — either inside longterm care facilities or after being transferred to hospitals because they were so ill, New York State Department of Health data show.
“I want to know how much Kathy Hochul knew — because she definitely knew. She was a sitting lieutenant governor, she had access to that data on a daily basis,” Stefanik charged.
Hochul recently announced her administration is hiring independent experts to conduct a review of New York’s COVID-19 response.
Other matters on Stefanik’s investigative agenda include Hunter Biden’s laptop, the horrific 2018 limo crash in Schoharie County that claimed the lives of 20 New Yorkers, and the firing of an upstate pre-K teacher due to her views on COVID-19 masking. She told The Post she’d subpoena documents related to all those issues.
Republicans are favored to win back the House this November after four years in the minority, meaning Stefanik could assume the role of majority whip.
Still, recent reports indicate Stefanik could also be in line for a bigger role: former President Donald Trump’s running mate in 2024, should he decide to run. Stefanik is a known favorite of Trump, who is hosting his fourth fundraiser for her next month at his swank Westchester golf course and has even floated her as his 2028 presidential pick.
We need to get all data . . . from any federal agency involved in this smuggling operation, this humantrafficking operation paid for by the taxpayers in the dark of night.
— Rep. Elise Stefanik (right)