WASHINGTON, D.C. – U.S. Senator John Boozman (R-AR), joined his GOP colleagues in sending a letter to Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas regarding the movement of illegal immigrants from the border for release into law-abiding American communities.

According to recent reports, Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) has been releasing large numbers of single adult illegal immigrants into our American communities. After being processed en masse at makeshift border facilities, they are being loaded onto planes and shuttled across the country for release.

“In light of the public reporting around ‘midnight flights’ of illegal immigrants, we request a full accounting of your Department’s activities so that we can understand the scope of this challenge,” wrote the senators. “We are concerned that the use of these midnight flights by ICE is intended to obfuscate the administration’s failure to secure our borders and protect hardworking, law-abiding Americans.” 

“It is deeply troubling to learn, according to an ICE source, that at a time when millions of Americans are struggling with inflation, their hard-earned taxpayer dollars are being used to transport illegal immigrants across the country, including dangerous criminal aliens,” the senators continued. “This appears to contradict the guidance you issued in September 2021, where you stated that a ‘noncitizen who poses a current threat to public safety, typically because of serious criminal conduct, is a priority for apprehension and removal.’”

“We are alarmed by the reports of mass release of criminal illegal immigrants into our communities under the cover of darkness. The American people deserve answers to why their taxpayer dollars are being used to fly illegal immigrants across the country to be released into our backyards. Public safety and national security are on the line,” the senators concluded. 

Senators Kevin Cramer (R-ND), Jerry Moran (R-KS), Mike Braun (R-IN), Roger Wicker (R-MS), Cindy Hyde-Smith (R-MS), Shelley Moore Capito (R-WV), Marsha Blackburn (R-TN), John Hoeven (R-ND), Todd Young (R-IN), Ted Cruz (R-TX) and Steve Daines (R-MT) joined Boozman and the letter’s author, Senator Thom Tillis (R-NC), in writing to Sec. Mayorkas.