Biden turned American airports into migrant flophouses — forcing taxpayers to foot the bill

During the peak of the Biden administration’s open-border chaos, reports surfaced that foreign nationals were sleeping on airport floors around the nation, mainly due to over-capacity at local shelters.

In June 2024, more than 100 people reportedly camped out at Boston Logan International Airport. There were also reports that immigrants were sheltering at the San Diego International Airport and Chicago O’Hare International Airport.

'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.'

A new report by the Senate Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation found that the Biden administration played a role in this situation by directing multiple federal agencies to identify airports to serve as shelter space or processing facilities for foreign nationals, Fox News Digital reported on Monday. This action was directed to the Department of Transportation, the Federal Aviation Administration, the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration, and the Federal Transit Administration.

The DOT and the FAA were reportedly instructed to “inventory available facilities,” including airports owned by the federal government and those owned locally, to “divert federal resources” to support the influx of arriving foreign nationals.

The committee found that at least 11 of the nation’s airports were pressured to allow migrants to shelter inside terminals, hangars, and auxiliary buildings, Fox News Digital reported. This pressure campaign included Boston Logan, Chicago O’Hare, and John F. Kennedy in New York.

Massport told Blaze News that it informed federal officials that the airport was “not designed or resourced to manage the intake of migrant populations,” warning that it “would create a host of unintended safety and security consequences.”

RELATED: Massachusetts to ban illegal aliens from sleeping at Boston’s Logan Airport

Jodi Hilton for The Washington Post via Getty Images

The committee highlighted an incident at the JFK Airport in 2024 in which a national from Ecuador “ran past a security post into ‘the secure area' ... toward two runways.” Security apprehended the individual, who was found in possession of a box cutter and scissors.

The report claimed that FAA officials were aware that such actions may require federal approval under grant-assurance rules, but they “ignored them most of the time when airports used their facilities to house aliens.”

RELATED: Chicago's O'Hare airport still packed with illegal immigrants despite some retreating to Venezuela over lack of amenities

Photo by Mario Tama/Getty Images

“The Biden-Harris administration made airports and aviation less secure,” the committee’s report stated. It argued that the administration allowed and even encouraged “aliens to shelter at U.S. airports, by allowing improperly vetted aliens to fly into and throughout the United States, and by diverting needed federal air marshals to the border.”

Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas), the chairman of the committee, told Fox News Digital, “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.”

“Their decisions — to transport illegal aliens through airports without identity checks, even those with felonies — shows in new detail how Biden’s open-border policy co-opted government agencies to put American citizens at risk,” Cruz said.

Like Blaze News? Bypass the censors, sign up for our newsletters, and get stories like this direct to your inbox. Sign up here!