Westchester County Airport Becomes Unlikely Election Flashpoint

WESTCHESTER COUNTY, NY — Political theater worthy of a Shakespearean five-act structure unfolded at the Westchester County Airport on Monday as political candidates attempted to raise concerns about U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) activity on the tarmac.

At an ad hoc media conference at the entrance to the Westchester County Airport (HPN), former Westchester County Executive and current gubernatorial candidate Rob Astorino was joined by Westchester County Executive candidate Christine Sculti. In front of television cameras, the political allies demanded answers from incumbent Westchester County Executive George Latimer about social media rumors of "mystery flights, in the middle of the night" seeding the county with unvaccinated "illegal" immigrants.

According to the HHS, however, the flights to HPN are not only required by federal law and occurring across the country, but there is a very good reason for not releasing details about young people who may be arriving at the airport.

"When a child who is not accompanied by a parent or legal guardian is apprehended by immigration authorities, the child is transferred to the care and custody of the Office of Refugee Resettlement (ORR)," the agency said in a release dated June 24. "Federal law requires that ORR feed, shelter, and provide medical care for unaccompanied children until it is able to release them to safe settings with sponsors (usually family members), while they await immigration proceedings. These sponsors live in many states."

According to the federal agency, protecting the privacy of the young people under its care is both a matter of privacy and security.

"HHS has strong policies in place to ensure the privacy and safety of unaccompanied children by maintaining the confidentiality of their personal information," the release continues. "These children may have histories of abuse or may be seeking safety from threats of violence. They may have been trafficked or smuggled."

Despite concerns by federal officials about protecting the identities of potentially at-risk children, on Monday, Astorino posted photographs on his Facebook page of what he claimed were undocumented immigrants, many of them children, on the tarmac at HPN. He declined to identify the source that had provided the photograph.

According to the latest statistics from the Office of Refugee Resettlement on unaccompanied children released to sponsors by county, Westchester County placed 329 unaccompanied children with family members and sponsors in Westchester County. By comparison, Queens County received 832 children, Rockland County received 360 children and Dallas County in Texas received 1,453 unaccompanied minors. The numbers represent 48,720 of the 59,131 children placed from October 1, 2020 to June 30, 2021.

The candidates who spoke yesterday were not convinced, however, that the federal program and county officials are being aboveboard about the activities at the airport.

"These really are concerns with respect to public health and public safety," Sculti said. "Was everybody tested for COVID? And if they were, what are the results of those tests? I'd also like to know, based on the flight manifests, have they determined that everybody has a clean criminal background?"

For his part, County Executive George Latimer said he recognized a familiar tone in the recent rhetoric.

"Trump acolytes and sycophants simply want all immigrants to leave the USA immediately and will castigate those who do not share that belief," Latimer said in part in a statement released on Monday. "What is clear for those of us in the political world - we have been handed a hot-button issue ripe for demonization by the right wingers of the Westchester Republican Party. They recently embraced The Proud Boys and others who defended Donald Trump in his two-night visit to Westchester. Their allegiance to Trump and his policies remains intact."

The Westchester County Airport was already a point of political contention prior to social media conspiracy theories entering the mainstream debate.

The war of words over an often contentious legal battle between the county and a fixed-base operator known as Million Air has heated up in recent weeks. The Houston-based company has accused the Latimer administration of not living up to an agreement negotiated by predecessors in the Astorino administration and is now suing the county.

SEE ALSO: Million Air Sues Westchester Over Stalled Hangar Project at HPN