NEW STORY: ICE denies it organized charter flights to Wilkes-Barre/Scranton International Airport
Charter flights carrying minors in the care of the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agency landed at Wilkes-Barre/Scranton International Airport four times this month, including twice on Christmas Day, an airport official said Sunday.
That follows a week of rumor and speculation on social media, and after U.S. Rep. Dan Meuser, R-9, Dallas, and former U.S. Rep. Lou Barletta asked officials to release information about the flights, including whether the passengers were in the country illegally.
The flights originated in Texas and some of them stopped in Cincinnati en route to Wilkes-Barre/Scranton, said Jim Gallagher, president of Aviation Technologies Inc., the airport’s fixed-base operator.
The first charter flight landed on Dec. 11 after it was diverted from a New York airport, Gallagher said. The second flight landed on Dec. 17 and two flights landed Saturday, Gallagher said.
Gallagher said he observed young people, most or all of them minors who did not speak English, disembark from the charter planes and get on buses that were parked near hangars at the airport.
Gallagher said he did not know where the buses were bound. The young passengers were escorted by adults, but were not in handcuffs and did not appear to be under arrest, Gallagher said.
He said he had no information regarding the immigration status of the passengers.
Three charter companies — KaiserAir, iAero and World Atlantic Airlines — handled the flights, which were designated as “ICE flights,” Gallagher said.
The planes were Boeing 737s that hold about 130 passengers, Wilkes-Barre/Scranton International Airport Executive Director Carl Beardsley said.
Gallagher said he could not confirm exact numbers of passengers on the flights, but estimated the numbers ranged from about 95 to 125.
It is standard practice for passengers on private charter flights to disembark near airport hangars rather than at airport terminals, Gallagher and Beardsley said.
Controversy grew in recent days as photos of planes and buses parked at the airport and screenshots of information about the Dec. 17 flight from El Paso, taken from an aviation website, were shared on social media.
Last week, Barletta sent a letter to Gov. Tom Wolf and Attorney General Josh Shapiro, asking them to answer questions about the passengers on the Dec. 17 flight.
Barletta expressed concerns about the potential spread of COVID-19. He asked if passengers had been tested or vaccinated.
In a letter to leaders of ICE and the Department of Homeland Security, Meuser asked where the passengers were taken after boarding buses at the airport.
That question remained unanswered as of late Sunday night.
