‘This is an immediate ask’: White House email to airports surfaces in new report, and what they were told to do is raising alarms

A shocking Senate report claims that the Biden administration put pressure on airports across America to take in migrants. This may have put traveler safety and security at risk throughout the country. The 47-page report is called “Flight Risk” and was released by the Senate Commerce Committee. It says the White House told major transportation agencies to use airport buildings as shelters or places to process migrant arrivals.

If you want to know just how serious this pressure was, the report shows internal messages that make it very clear. According to Fox News, the administration told the Department of Transportation (DOT) and the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) to “inventory available facilities” at local and federally owned airports. They were also told to “divert federal resources” to help with the incoming migrants.

The urgency was extreme. On October 6, 2023, one FAA official sent a message to Massport saying, “We have received a request from the WH to determine if there are available facilities on airport or surrounding areas… This is an immediate ask so please prioritize this effort.” This kind of immediate pressure is truly alarming, especially when you think about how sensitive airport operations are.

Federal overreach ignored airport safety warnings completely

Not everyone in the administration was happy about this order. The report quotes one DOT staff member who responded honestly to the news, writing, “Yikes, this is definitely Fox News fodder in the making.”

The committee found that at least 11 airports were targeted. These included major hubs like Boston Logan, Chicago O’Hare, and New York’s JFK. All of them were reportedly asked or pressured to shelter migrants inside extra buildings, hangars, or even terminals.

This move is terrible for operational security, and the airport operators knew it right away. Massport, which runs Boston Logan, warned its federal partners that they were “not designed or resourced to manage the intake of migrant populations.” They stressed that this move “would create a host of unintended safety and security consequences.”

Despite that very clear warning, the report confirms that Boston Logan went ahead and hosted up to 352 migrants overnight in Terminal E. That decision wasn’t cheap either. The airport reportedly spent $779,000 just on transportation, cleaning, and security related to the operation. This kind of federal pressure on local facilities has sparked debates about government overreach in recent months.

The consequences of this policy are shown by several security incidents. At Chicago’s O’Hare Airport, up to 900 migrants were sheltered in a shuttle terminal. Between April 2023 and February 2024, Chicago officials noted that the asylum seekers were not kept in the staging area only. During that same time, police recorded 329 service calls and 26 arrests related to the area. These included theft, disorderly conduct, and even a death investigation.

The committee didn’t hold back in its conclusion, stating that these orders reflected “a dangerous diversion” of federal transportation resources. Political commentators have weighed in on how Trump’s poll numbers have fluctuated amid these ongoing policy debates.

Senator Ted Cruz, R-Texas, who chairs the committee, issued a strong statement about the findings. He 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.”

Ultimately, the committee concluded, “The Biden-Harris administration made airports and aviation less secure.” Meanwhile, late-night hosts have been addressing administration controversies, with Jon Stewart’s recent White House ballroom commentary drawing significant attention.